Introduction to Bone Marrow Donation

  Leukemia, commonly known as “blood cancer”, is a highly malignant blood disease with a natural course of only three months. In recent years, with the development of medical technology, chemotherapy and other methods can be used to contain the diseased cells and prolong the life of the patient. However, this method has high side effects and a high relapse rate, which not only causes great pain to the patient, but also poses a serious danger to the family and society. Internationally, bone marrow transplantation has been used in the treatment of leukemia since the 1970s, and has achieved good results, but in China, due to the lack of bone marrow donors, many leukemia patients have lost their lives due to delayed treatment.  In 1992, the Red Cross Society of China was commissioned by the Ministry of Health to formally establish the “Chinese Bone Marrow Bank” in Beijing, and the Red Cross Societies of Shanghai, Beijing and other five provinces and cities across the country simultaneously launched the solicitation of non-blood-related bone marrow transplant donors. By the end of 1997, more than 5,000 volunteers had enrolled in the “Chinese Bone Marrow Bank”, including more than 2,300 in Shanghai. However, since the matching rate among unrelated people is only 1 in 10,000, only a few very lucky leukemia patients may find a suitable donor in the bank. But it goes beyond the small circle of families and can help most leukemia patients if there are enough donors.  Peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is currently one of the advanced international medical treatments for the eradication of leukemia. Compared with bone marrow transplantation, it has the characteristics of short time and fast results, especially its method of stem cell collection is safer and more acceptable to the donor. Previously, for bone marrow transplantation, the donor needed to be put under local anesthesia and the bone marrow mixture was extracted several times by drilling holes in the skeleton; whereas the stem cell transplantation currently used is to collect hematopoietic stem cells from the donor’s peripheral blood (blood collected from the arm) and the remaining blood is aggregated through a machine and transfused back into the body. Only a total of 50 ml of stem cells is needed to enable a leukemia patient to re-establish normal hematopoietic mechanisms and immune functions and to gain a new life.  China has a population of 1.2 billion, and at an annual incidence rate of 3 per 10,000, there are 36,000 new leukemia patients a year, not including those with previous incidences, which is a huge number. At the same time, Chinese people around the world are also eager to build a Chinese bone marrow bank as soon as possible to provide help for all the children of Yanhuang. Donating stem cells does not hinder your health, it only takes a small amount of courage, and a life will be given a new life because of you. This is such a meaningful feat! What you get is not only the lifelong gratitude and respect of the patient and his family, but also a valuable spiritual treasure.  Anyone who is in good health, aged between 18 and 45, male or female, and meets the conditions for blood donation is welcome to join the ranks of volunteer donors.