Bone marrow registration: Bone marrow donors can save lives

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Dominique Boivin
  • 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron
F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. --  A bone marrow registration drive held by the C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor program takes place May 11 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Cheyenne's Lions Park community center. 

"The C.W. Bill Young DoD Marrow Donor Program was established to recruit volunteer marrow donors from active-duty military, their immediate family members, civil service employees, Cost Guard, National Guard and Reservists," said Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Hoff, 90th Medical Support Squadron, who signed up with the program. 

Bone marrow donation can help save lives. Registering with local bone marrow agencies is a process usually only requiring a swipe with a cotton swab in an open mouth, more simple than donating blood. 

"I give blood," Sergeant Hoff said, "and that's kind of where I started with [bone marrow donations] too." 

Sergeant Hoff donated bone marrow to try to save the life of a 17-year-old boy. While the transfusion was a success, the boy later died of complications stemming from chemotherapy. Despite the ultimate outcome, Sergeant Hoff still considers it to be one of the most rewarding experiences of his life. 

Ordinary blood donation is a painless effort, requiring only a second for a giver to grit teeth in expectation of the needle's tiny pinprick. The donor walks away, maybe a little tired but no worse for the wear. The body replenishes the blood, and the donor is ready to give again in about 56 days. 

Blood is produced in bone marrow, a soft tissue called cancellous tissue found inside bones. Bone marrow is central to life because from it comes red blood cells, which carry oxygen to body tissues; white blood cells, which defend the body against infection; and platelets, which clot blood. 

There are a number of disorders and diseases that affect the blood or production of the blood. In general terms, leukemia is cancer of the blood and bone marrow where too many blood cells, usually white blood cells, are made. White blood cells also attack and destroy foreign antigens such as viruses and bacterium in the lymphatic system, which is part of the immune system. Treatment for such disorders and cancers sometimes includes bone marrow transplants. 

Like blood typing, finding a match for bone marrow is an in-depth process. First, both people are checked for matching proteins called human leukocyte-associated antigens, or HLA. When these are matched, stem cells, cells which are capable of dividing and producing more than one type of cell, are transplanted just like a blood transfusion into the recipient. If the body accepts the transfusion, the stem cells are "engrafted" into the recipient's bone marrow and should begin to produce healthy blood. 

One of the biggest problems for people needing a bone marrow transfusion is finding someone with a close enough HLA match. Family members are usually the closest matches but not always. A similar ethnic background also increases the likelihood of an HLA match. With more people registered, the bigger the pool of HLA signatures. 

Sergeant Hoff was registered four years before he was found to be a match. 

"Getting tested is painless. It matters. You can help," Sergeant Hoff said. 

For more information call Sergeant Hoff at 773-2392.