Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation - How Gift of Life Enrolls A New Donor

How Gift of Life Enrolls A New Donor

Step 1: Enrollment Into the Registry Registration as a potential donor begins with a simple swab of the cheek, known as a buccal swab. This is performed to determine the donor’s Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) tissue typing. Prior to the test, the donor must sign a consent form and complete a short health history questionnaire to ensure they are preliminarily eligible to join the registry. Once a donor’s tissue typing is listed in the registry, they become available – anonymously – to patients worldwide in need of transplants through hospitals that conduct donor searches on their behalf, known as transplant centers. Donors must be between the ages of 18 - 60 to join the Gift of Life Registry.

Step 2: Confirmatory Typing When a transplant center identifies a donor they consider to be a suitable match for their patient, they request that Gift of Life obtain a blood sample from the donor for the purpose of “Confirmatory Typing,” which is the next step in the process. Approximately 1 in 100 donors will receive the call that they are a potential match for a patient in need. After further education on the process, and if the donor is willing and eligible to proceed, the donor is sent to a laboratory to have a blood sample drawn which is in turn shipped to the patient’s transplant center to confirm the match. Approximately 1 in 10 donors are called for the third step – Workup – based on the results of the Confirmatory Typing.

Step 3: Workup Gift of Life has relationships with hospitals throughout the United States that serve as its regional collection centers. These hospitals are responsible for conducting a comprehensive physical examination, blood work (including infectious disease testing) and health history screening of the donor. Based on the results from this process, the collection center determines whether the donor is eligible and suitable to donate.

Step 4: Donation Process The collection centers that conduct the physical examinations and medically clear the donors are also responsible for harvesting the bone marrow and collecting the peripheral blood stem cells from the donors.