Katelyn Bedard Bone Marrow Association. Someone is looking for a needle in a haystack... you might be the needle!

Join The Registry

Canada United States Other Countries

I Joined The Registry...

If you have joined the Bone Marrow Registry add yourself to the "I Joined" list and let others know you have made a difference.

Click here to sign the
"I Joined" guestbook

Here are the last few people that signed the guestbook:

I Joined!

Richard Richmond
London, ON
Joined 2011 (1 year)
"Registered in US Gift of Life Registry. The Canadian one will not accept individuals with asthma requiring occassional use of puffers."

John
Hamilton, ONTARIO
Joined 1990 (22 years)
"After more than 10 yrs on the list, I just got called as a match. Can't wait to be the chance that someone needed:)"

Lisa Arlotti
Tecumseh , ONTARIO
Joined 2011 (1 year)

Jill McAllister
Three Hills, ALBERTA
Joined 2000 (12 years)
"I joined afew years ago... I would be so proud to help a family in need!"

seth quiring
merlin, ON
Joined 2011 (1 year)
"loved it"

Click HERE to view
a complete list.

* People listed with a butterfly icon show that they were inspired to join the Bone Marrow Registry after visiting this website.

Video

Please Join the Bone Marrow Registry Video

Our YouTube video provides some basic information about the bone marrow registry and why it is critical that people of all ethnic backgrounds join the registry today.

Photos

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Bone Marrow and Stem Cells

Bone marrow is located in most bones and is responsible for manufacturing blood cells. Certain diseases, such as Leukemia, cause the bone marrow to malfunction and to produce abnormal cells. For many people suffering from these diseases, a bone marrow transplant is the only hope for long term survival.

A bone marrow transplant is a procedure where a patient's own bone marrow is destroyed using high doses of chemotherapy and radiation. Normal bone marrow cells are then infused in much the same way as a blood transfusion. The healthy bone marrow can come from a variety of donors depending on the type of disease:

  • The patient themselves (this is called an autologous transplant)
  • A sibling or parent
  • Umbilical cord blood (thanks to public cord blood banks)
  • An unrelated bone marrow donor

In all cases, the donor must have the same HLA type (tissue type) as the patient. Many patients are able to find a bone marrow donor with the same HLA type, but many are not. Imagine how devastating it would be to know that your life threatening disease could be cured, if only the right person joined the bone marrow registry.

Many people think that donating bone marrow is the same as giving blood. This is not the case. There are only a handful of blood types so it is easy to find someone with the same blood type as you. In contrast, there are thousands of HLA types so it is very difficult to find a match if you need a bone marrow transplant.

In order for a patient to receive a bone marrow transplant, their donor must be of the same ethnicity. In the Canadian bone marrow registry, ethnicities other than caucasian are vastly under represented. Here are some statistics about the Canadian OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network published in a Toronto Star article on October 2, 2006 that illustrate the pressing need for donors of various ethnicities to step forward and join the registry.

Approximately 230,000 Canadians are registered:

Ethnicity % of Registry
Black 0.5%
Aboriginal 1%
East Indian 1.6%
Asian 3.6%
Hispanic 0.3%
Caucasian 83%

All that is needed to determine your HLA type is a simple blood test. Please join the bone marrow registry in your country today!