Sign up for Be The Match Registry at Jim Gibbons 5K
Aurora, IL - Heartland Blood Centers is hosting a Be The Match Registry drive, at the annual Leukemia Research Foundation's Jim Gibbons 5K on Thursday, June 18, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Grant Park in Chicago.
Every 4 minutes, someone in the U.S. in diagnosed with leukemia. For many of these patients, a stem cell or bone marrow transplant is their only hope for a cure. Twelve thousand patients this year alone in the U.S. will need a match from a complete stranger because there is no match in their family. They rely on finding a donor off our national registry.
Registration consists of a simple consent form and four cotton swabs in the mouth. That's it! Then, you're added to the registry and if in the future you're found to be a potential match for someone, you'd go through some additional testing consisting of a blood draw and a physical. If you're the perfect match, you could donate your stem cells or bone marrow and cure their blood cancer. If you match a patient, you might be their only match in the entire world.
Even though Be The Match Registry is the United States registry, there are over 70 registries all over the world and they all work together to find matches for patients in need. It doesn't matter what your blood type is, what does matter is your tissue type and that is inherited, so you have the best chance of being a match for someone who shares your similar ethnicity.
There are many misconceptions when it comes to donating marrow, primarily that it is a painful process to donate. This is not true. In fact, 75 percent of donations today are now peripheral blood stem cell donations, which is very similar to donating blood platelets. It is not surgery, and basically doctors remove some free-floating stem cells from your blood stream through a needle in your arm. There is no hospital stay, however, there are a few injections leading up to your donation that will boost the amount of stem cells in your blood stream. Still, 25 percent of donations are considered bone marrow donations. This commonly happens if you match a child or infant in need. For this type of donation, the donor is under anesthesia and feels no pain. There is a small incision and the doctor goes in with a hollow needle to extract some liquid marrow. There are no stitches, no piece of bone removed, and most donors go home that same day. Most donors are back to their normal routine within 2 days.
What we are asking of you … please consider joining the registry! Do your research and consider the commitment of joining the registry. Visit www.bethematch.org to learn more.
Tom shares his story
The company I work for has a running club in which they provide the registrations for a variety of Chicago area races over the summer. I ran the Jim Gibbons 5K a few times in Lincoln Park in the past, and always enjoyed a nice run near the lake. In June 2012 at the Jim Gibbons 5K, I ran with my friend Nic and we noticed some kids dressed up as Q-tips, which I thought was pretty funny. We were encouraged by them to sign up for the Bone Marrow registry. My friend Nic insisted that we go to the tent and sign up. I took a quick glance at the literature and decided with not much thought to take the swab and put my name on the registry.
Unexpectedly 8 months later, I received an email from Be The Match notifying me that I was a potential match for a 64-year-old female patient. The first email out was to my girlfriend (now wife) Katie, which said "Egad! I'm nervous". I really didn't know what to expect since I spent all of 20 seconds reading about the bone marrow donation process at the race. I also knew right away that I was going to go through with whatever was needed no matter what. The next email I told Katie I was going to do it as it could be someone's mother out there needing help. I took a blood test and received a phone call, in the midst of moving to a newly purchased condo, that I was an exact match for the patient and action was needed right away.
In the subsequent months, I learned the details of the donation process and went through further testing, physicals, and ultimately made my bone marrow donation on May 23, 2013, less than a year after signing up at the Jim Gibbons race. I spent the next few weeks recovering from a sore lower back, but actively was running and playing volleyball within a month.
Not all stories have a happy ending, as I learned a few months later that my bone marrow recipient did not make it through the donation process despite a successful transplant.
Nonetheless, the experience was overwhelmingly positive, as one does not get a chance often to have such an important impact on someone's life. While it did not work out for my recipient, I know that I gave her the best chance at life. I would most certainly answer the call to donate if summoned upon again. I would also encourage everyone to sign up on the registry, with or without the help from Q-tip kids.