Myths & facts about blood stem cell donation

Donation is less painful than you probably think.

Discomfort and side effects vary from person to person, but it’s nothing like what you see on TV. Some of the common side effects of PBSC donation are headaches, nausea and tiredness—from the daily shots of a drug called filgrastim or an FDA-approved similar administered in the 5 days leading up to donation.

For a marrow donation, you experience no pain before or during the procedure, but you may feel sore or achy for a few days afterward.

Donation is absolutely free to the donor. It costs nothing. 

All of your medical and travel expenses are covered by NMDP^SM. We can also help cover any lost wages due to donation. 

We protect your privacy and confidentiality.

Sharing your personal information, DNA and blood stem cells is NOT risky because NMDP has rules in place to protect your privacy. Your blood stem cells go directly to your patient. After you donate, a trained courier takes your blood stem cells to the patient’s hospital for transplant. 

It doesn’t take long to save someone’s life.

Between the phone calls, appointments and the donation itself, expect to spend about 20-30 hours total over a period of 4-6 weeks completing all the steps necessary for donation.

Most blood stem cell donors give peripheral blood stem cells—a process similar to donating plasma. 

Some think that the only way to donate blood stem cells is through a surgical procedure. The reality is about 90% of donations are peripheral blood stem cells, which involves no surgery at all!

The other 10% of the time, people are asked to donate bone marrow. While this is a surgical procedure, no bones are opened up or removed. Instead, while the donor is under anesthesia, a doctor removes the marrow from the back of the pelvic bone using a hollow needle. The process typically takes less than an hour.

There are few risks to donating. 

It is a common misconception that donating blood stem cells is dangerous. The truth is that there are actually very few risks in donating marrow and peripheral blood stem cells!

The genetic typing used to match donors to patients is much more complex than matching blood type. 

• A patient and donor do not need to have the same blood type. 
• Matching is based on your human leukocyte antigen (HLA), proteins—or markers—found on most cells in your body.
• The patient’s blood type will change to the donor’s blood type after transplant. 

Members of the LGBTQIA+ community CAN join the registry and donate. You won’t be asked about your sexual orientation when registering because it doesn’t factor into choosing the best possible match for a patient. 

Ethnic background is an important factor for matching donors and patients. 

• Patients are most likely to match someone of the same ethnic background. That’s because genetic type is inherited. 
• Adding more registry members who increase the ethnic diversity of the registry increases the variety of tissue types available, helping more patients find the match they need. 

Age guidelines protect the safety of the donor and provide the best possible outcome for the patient. They are not meant to discriminate.

Some believe that the age guidelines we have in place are to discriminate against those 41 and older. However, these guidelines are meant to protect the safety of the patient AND the donor.

• Donors between the ages of 18-35 provide the greatest chance for transplant success.
• Doctors request donors in the 18-35 age group nearly 80% of the time.
• Learn more about why a donor’s age matters.

Anyone between the ages of 18-40 who meets the medical guidelines can donate.

• Medical guidelines are in place to protect the health of donors and patients.
• Certain guidelines, like pregnancy, wouldn’t prevent someone from joining the registry. However, while pregnant or attempting to become pregnant, you must be temporarily deferred from donating until fully recovered from the delivery. Marrow or peripheral blood stem cells cannot be collected at any time during pregnancy.