How to be a bone marrow donor: Requirements and procedure

Being a bone marrow donor is to become a superhero and it is that reality, it is very important to donate bone marrow to be able to save the lives of people who are struggling to win the battle against cancer. Here are the necessary requirements to be a donor and how to do it in a simple way.

Requirements to become a bone marrow donor

Bone marrow is a type of tissue that lies within the long bones and spinal cord. This type of tissue is rich in stem cells that are capable of producing white and red blood cells and for this reason it is so important to perform a bone marrow transplant to a leukemia patient.

Leukemia is a type of cancer that attacks the bone marrow leaving it unable to produce these types of components that are necessary to live, so it is so important to bone marrow donation, because the healthy bone marrow of a person can generate this type of blood components in another one and prevent the cancer from winning the battle.

To be a bone marrow donor, the only requirement is to be between 18 and 55 years of age and not to have had any serious chronic illness. Once the person has decided to save lives, he passes an interview with a medical specialist who explains all the terms of the process. Subsequently a routine blood test is performed to determine the donor’s genetic enrollment and thus to check with the international databases to find a compatible person who needs the transplant.

Procedure to save lives

Once the anonymous hero decides to help a person in any part of the world in his fight, the spinal cord is extracted through a lumbar puncture.

This is nothing more than practicing an injection into the spine to extract the bone marrow.

On the other hand, the recipient’s bone marrow is cleansed through chemotherapy or radiotherapy to eliminate the cancer cells, after a reasonable period of time since receiving this treatment the patient is ready to continue with the process.

In the operation, process that is not painful to inject healthy cells through the blood stream and they alone go to their destination naturally and instinctively. Once achieved the goal and avoided rejection, the patient wins the war against his enemy and has a second opportunity to be happy.

The importance of donating bone marrow

Donating bone marrow is one of the most generous and essential acts that currently exists because it allows us to save the life of another person without any effort, i.e. making the most expensive gift in the world at a derisory cost. Donating bone marrow can return to paint a smile on the face of someone who deserves so much and who has struggled hard to get it. So you know there is no excuse, we must all help in the fight against cancer.