You may have just the right type of healthy blood-forming cells to save a life. A patient needing a bone marrow transplant (also called a BMT) or umbilical cord blood transplant has diseased cells. If the diseased cells are not repaired or replaced, the patient may not survive.
The registry of the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program, also called the Be The Match Registry®, is a listing of potential marrow donors and donated cord blood units. The registry is operated under Federal contracts by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP).
When you join the registry, your tissue type is listed with nearly 16.5 million other potential donors around the world who have agreed to donate their marrow and possibly save a patient's life.
A transplant has a better chance of success when the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tissue type of the marrow donor or cord blood unit closely matches the patient's. HLA are proteins, or markers, that the immune system uses to recognize the cells that belong in the body and those that do not.
How to Join the Registry
If you are between the ages of 18 and 60 years old and are in good overall health, you can join the registry online, right now. Or, you can join in person at a marrow drive, which is often hosted by a donor center or recruitment center.
Whether you join online or in person, your information is entered into the Be The Match Registry, which is managed by the NMDP.
When you join the registry, you will be asked to:
- Complete a questionnaire about your health history, provide your contact information, and sign an agreement to join the registry.
- Consider other ways to help such as volunteering, making a financial gift to the Be The Match Foundation®, or coordinating a drive.
- Give either a swab of cheek cells or a blood sample for tissue typing.
Your Current Information is Important, Now and Later
When you join, you are agreeing to consider giving your healthy blood-forming cells to any patient, someone whose best chance for survival may depend on you. If your tissue type matches a patient, you will need to be contacted quickly. Therefore, you need to update your information on the registry if:
- Your phone number, name, e-mail address, or postal address changes.
- You want to be removed from the Be The Match Registry.
- Your health changes significantly. For example, in the future you develop heart disease, diabetes, or hepatitis.
