THE LAST CHANCE 

An allogeneic transplant uses marrow from a donor, usually a sibling who has the same tissue type. If a sibling is not available, doctors desperately search the National Marrow Donor Program registry of tissue-typed volunteers, praying for a matched unrelated donor.

Every year, there are thousands of real life children and adults like Kyle, whose only hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant. Sadly, 70 percent won’t receive one because a donor can’t be found.

The odds are 1 in 20,000 of identifying an unrelated, compatible marrow donor...much higher, however, for patients of minority heritage. A fictional detective like Hannibal Jones can’t be everywhere, but YOU can be the hero next time.  You can join the pool of potential bone marrow donors.  All you have to do is have a simple, painless blood test performed to identify your "tissue type." This information is maintained in the National Marrow Donor Program data bank. When a data bank search identifies your tissue as a match, you will be contacted for additional tests.

You can get the details of Blood and Bone marrow donations from the City of Hope.

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