We’re sorry — You do not meet the health guidelines
Thank you. We appreciate your desire to help patients by becoming a marrow donor. However at this time, you do not meet the health guidelines for joining the registry:
- Having significant neck, back, hip or spine problems may place you at an increased risk for health problems if you were to donate.
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More reasons why my spine needs to get completely fixed as soon as possible.
Chronic pain apparently counts as severe. (But what if it’s going away? ;_; I can sit for long periods of time without being in pain now? I can even bend down and touch my toes or pick things that I’ve dropped on the ground up without it hurting???)
I’ll find out the status of my lovely spine by the end of this month, so I will be trying again then. In the meantime, it would mean the world to me (and a whole lot of other people) if you would consider joining the national bone marrow registry. Asian-Americans are particularly under-represented in the registry (along with a number of other demographics), and have an even more difficult time finding a match.
There’s been a long-held belief that donating bone marrow is an extremely painful process, but for the most part, they request for peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation, which doesn’t involve surgery. Side effects might include headaches, joint or muscle aches, or fatigue, but you tend to be back to your normal routine within 1-2 days. You’re under anesthesia if you donate marrow, and you can expect to feel soreness in your lower back for 1-2 weeks, but you’re typically back to your normal routine within 2-7 days (and you’ve helped to save someone’s life.
Please think about joining, or at least learn more about it!
