Commonly asked questions

Be The Match ^® brings together volunteer donors and thousands of patients with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, sickle cell anemia or other life-threatening diseases. For many of these people, a marrow transplant may be the best treatment option and could save their life.

Your family member is volunteering to be on the Be The Match Registry^®, the world’s most diverse list of volunteer marrow donors, which provides patients with access to more than 39 million potential donors in the world.

Be The Match, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP), was founded in 1987 and has facilitated more than 100,000 blood stem cell transplants to give patients a second chance at life. Be The Match facilitates more than 6,400 transplants each year and is a leader in the field of marrow and cord blood transplantation.

The U.S. government has entrusted Be The Match with operating the C. W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program, the federal program supporting blood stem cell and cord blood donation and transplantation.

The NMDP is the hub of a global transplant network that connects 470 leading centers worldwide, including donor centers and transplant centers. They have standards designed to ensure that patients and donors receive high-quality care and that government standards are met.

People join the registry for different reasons, so it’s best to ask your loved one what motivated them. By joining the registry, they’re simply pledging to donate blood stem cells to any searching patient when called, which can give a patient a second chance at life and hopefully more time with their family. In fact, 70% of patients depend on Be The Match to find a donor when one can’t be found within their own family.

Finding a donor for a patient is more complex than simply matching blood types. Doctors match donors and patients based on many factors, the most important being their human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type. HLA are proteins—or markers—found on most cells in the body. Because the markers are inherited, patients are more likely to match someone of a similar ethnic background. 

That means that your family member could be the only person on the registry that can help a particular patient.

There are two methods of donation: peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) and bone marrow. The patient’s doctor chooses the donation method that’s best for the patient.

PBSC donation is a nonsurgical procedure that takes place at a blood center or outpatient hospital facility that’s experienced and participates in PBSC collections for Be The Match.

• For five days leading up to donation, the donor will be given injections of a drug called filgrastim to increase the number of blood-forming cells in their bloodstream.
• Their blood is removed through a needle in one arm and passed through a machine that separates out the blood-forming cells. The remaining blood is returned to the donor through the other arm using a process called apheresis.
• This method of donation is similar to that used for plasma donation. However, PBSC donation typically takes longer than plasma donation. If done in one day, it could take up to eight hours. Over the course of two days, it will take four to six hours each day.
• After donation, the donor’s collected cells are transported to the patient’s location for transplant.

Marrow donation is a surgical outpatient procedure that takes place in a hospital operating room.

• The donor will receive anesthesia and feel no pain during the donation.
• Doctors use a needle to withdraw liquid marrow from both sides of the back of the donor’s pelvic bone.
• The marrow replaces itself completely within four to six weeks.
• After donation, the collected cells are transported to the patient’s location for transplant.

Filgrastim (Neupogen^®) is a drug commonly used to treat cancer patients. It stimulates the bone marrow to make more blood-forming cells and moves them from the marrow into the bloodstream so they can be collected by apheresis.  

To be able to donate enough peripheral blood stem cells for a transplant, more of a donor’s cells need to be moved out of their marrow and into their bloodstream. One way to do this is by receiving filgrastim injections for five days leading up to donation.

Fewer than 1% of donors experience serious side effects, and no long-term risks have been found to date. (See the health concerns section of this toolkit for more information.)

Be The Match takes all the necessary precautions to ensure the safety and well-being of its donors. Be The Match has a safety committee, called the Donor and Patient Safety Monitoring Committee, that ensures that safe and effective processes and procedures are used in donation.

There are many steps involved in the donation process to ensure donating is safe for every donor. These steps include completing a health history questionnaire, physical exam and blood tests.

First, patients undergo chemotherapy and sometimes radiation to destroy their diseased marrow. Then the donor’s healthy blood-forming cells are transplanted into the patient’s body, where they can begin to function and multiply.

For a patient’s body to accept these healthy cells, the patient needs a donor who’s a close match based on their human leukocyte antigen type.

A donor may have to take some time off from work or school. The time commitment for the donation process is generally 20-30 hours over a four-to-six-week period. This includes participating in an information session, keeping appointments for blood tests and completing a physical exam—all of these activities ensure that the donation is safe for donor and patient.

Some employers will cover wages for time away from work for donation, depending on the statutes of a particular state. 

There’s a chance that your family member may have to travel for donation, depending on the needs and timeline of the patient and donor. If they’re required to travel, Be The Match will coordinate travel arrangements.

To ensure the procedure is safe for donors, Be The Match only works with hospitals and facilities that are experienced in collecting blood stem cells—so if there’s not a facility near your family member, they may need to travel.

Nearly 40% of donors travel by air and stay one or more nights in a hotel. Travel expenses are also covered by Be The Match.

Your family member won’t be traveling to the patient’s location for donation. Their cells are transported to the patient’s location right after donation.

Donors are encouraged to bring one companion to the donation. Expenses are covered for both the donor and that companion, whose role is to support the donor before, during and immediately following donation.

All medical costs for the donation procedure are covered by Be The Match or by the patient's medical insurance. Travel expenses and other non-medical costs are also covered. The only cost might be time taken off work.

No, your insurance won’t be involved. You’ll get a card from Be The Match that acts as an insurance card for all medical appointments related to donation. 

Donors may experience headaches or bone or muscle aches for several days before donation. These are side effects from the filgrastim injections. The side effects go away shortly after the donation.

Common side effects related to donation itself include bruising at the needle site, numbness or tingling and chills. These will go away shortly after the donation is completed.

Most PBSC donors report a full recovery within seven to 10 days of donation. Your family member’s donor center representative will follow up with them until they report a full recovery.

Donors can expect to feel some soreness in their lower back for a few days or longer after donation. Most marrow donors experience some pain, fatigue and stiffness following the donation. Their marrow returns to normal levels within a few weeks.

Many donors return to their normal routine in a few days and most feel fully recovered within 21 days. (More than 98.5% of Be The Match donors feel completely recovered within a few weeks.) Your family member’s donor center representative will follow up with them until they report a full recovery.

As for risks, a very small percentage (1.34%) of donors experience a serious complication due to anesthesia or damage to bone, nerve or muscle in their hip region.

Donation won’t impact their ability to have children.

After researching donation and becoming educated about the side effects and risks, you can be proud of their decision to help a patient in need and support them in moving forward with the process,

You can be their advocate throughout the process by being there to help comfort them if they’re nervous, scared, excited or in some pain. You can also help them complete any daily tasks that might be harder for them during that time.

Additionally, you can spread the word about donation. For people with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma or other diseases, a cure exists. Help make sure every patient gets the transplant they need by making a contribution or joining the registry. 

First, their donor center representative is available to answer any questions they might have. They’re professionals trained to advocate for, screen and educate potential donors about the donation process.

Be The Match also has a Donor Advocacy team that represents the rights of all Be The Match donors.

Most importantly, you can help them come up with questions to ask about the donation process. Your support throughout the donation experience is crucial to your family member’s success in getting through the process.

Because donating blood stem cells is different from donating an organ, many people can donate and remain true to their religious and cultural beliefs. If those beliefs are important to you and your loved one, we recommend setting up a meeting with your religious leader to discuss your family member’s unique opportunity to save a life.