Why are marrow donors needed?

Marrow is produced inside the larger bones of the body. It makes blood cells and even looks like blood, but it is a little thicker.

A marrow transplant may be used to treat and/or cure between 40 and 60 diseases including different forms of cancer and blood diseases such as leukemia that affect the marrow's ability to produce blood cells. It is also being used experimentally to treat the blood disease sickle cell anemia.

Unfortunately, nearly 70 percent of patients in need are unable to find suitably matched marrow donors within their families. It is these individual who search the NMDP Registry in numbers exceeding 3,000 each day. The unfortunate situation is that many patients die before finding a suitably matched donor. As the number of potential marrow donors grows, so do the chances of finding a match.

While all donors are needed, there is a critical need for minority volunteer donors. A majority of the volunteers on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry are Caucasian. Because tissue types are inherited, and some types are more common to certain racial or ethnic groups, a patient's best chance of finding a match is within his or her ethnic and racial group. More African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic and Native American volunteer donors are needed to give every patient the best possible chance of finding an unrelated donor.