On Air Archive

Word On…Bone Marrow: Although more people have come forward to register on the British Bone Marrow registries there are not nearly enough from the wider community to match with people who require bone marrow transplants.

Why We Need Bone Marrow Donors: There are a number of diseases in which the patient is unable to make enough blood.  These include leukaemia, aplastic anaemia, and other diseases of the blood and immune system.  Although chemotherapy will cure some of these patients, for many, the only possibility of a cure is to have a bone marrow transplant from a healthy donor.

In about 30% of cases, a suitably matched donor, such as a brother or a sister can be found in the patient’s family.  All the other patients requiring a transplant have to rely on a volunteer bone marrow donor.

Each year the UK bone marrow registries receive an estimated 3,000 requests for bone marrow matches from hospitals across the UK and around the world. Because of the large number of tissue types, trying to find a suitable match may prove to be impossible. The UK registries currently provide between 200-250 matched, unrelated donors per year.

What Is Bone Marrow: The Bone Marrow is the tissue from which blood cells are constantly renewed. It is found in the centre of the hip bones and other long bones of the body.  Stem cells are the ‘building blocks’ which can develop into any of the other normal blood cells: red cells to carry oxygen, white cells to fight infection and platelets to stop bleeding.

A normal healthy person has an enormous reserve of stem cells in the hollow centres of the bones. These cells can be collected from either the bone marrow or the circulating blood.

How Donors & Patients Are Matched.//The white cells in the blood can be tested to determine a persons ‘tissue type’. Patients and potential donors are matched by comparing the tissue types.  Some tissue types are more common in particular ethnic communities within the population, meaning that a patient is more likely to be matched with a donor from a similar ethnic background. This also means that the chances of a successful transplant are increased.//Members of the African–Carribean, Asian (Indian sub-continent), Hispanic, Middle Eastern (Arab), Greek, Turkish, Jewish or Oriental (Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, Thai, Indonesian or Nepalese) communities are especially needed as bone marrow donors.

What Is The British Bone Marrow Registry: The British Bone Marrow Registry (BBMR) is a division of the National Blood Service, working in co-operation with the other UK bone marrow donor registries. The UK registries, including the Anthony Nolan Trust and the Welsh Bone Marrow Registry, work together to ensure that transplant centres have the best possible information in their search for potential donors. The BBMR is also part of an international network performing searches to find suitable bone marrow donors.

You need to be a blood donor and you can join the British Bone Marrow register at the time you give your first donation. (This can be any time after your 18th birthday and before your 45th birthday.) There must be no medical reasons preventing you from being a blood donor and potentially being a bone marrow donor.  At the time of your blood donation we will take an extra blood sample so that we can identify your tissue type.  Please inform the staff at the blood donation session that you wish to join the BBMR before your blood donation is taken.  A consent form must be completed at the time and handed to the member of staff. Your details and your tissue type will be put onto a confidential computerised register.  These details are held in compliance with the Data Protection Act.  You can ask for your name to be removed from the BBMR at any time.  Please tell us if you change your name, marital status or address, either when you attend a blood donation session or directly by calling 0845 7 711 711.