A lot of lives are lost because people just don’t know that they can help
YouTube is a destination for a lot of people for entertainment. It also represent a channel for people who need to reach out to a large audience for help. Sadly, these help seeking videos never get as viral as the entertaining ones. Take a look at the video below:
This girl passed away last year (yup, it is an old video… over one and a half years old). This video has garnered only around 40,000 views. It is very sad. But what can we do about it? What we can do is we can gain some knowledge about what can be done to help.
People donate blood all the time, and it helps save hundreds of lives across the globe. Why do people do that? Because people know that it is possible and it requires no risk to the person donating. Similarly, it is possible to donate your bone marrow to someone who needs it. The only difference is that a bone marrow donation is always needed in a situation where the recipient has no other option left for staying alive.
Read again: The recipient has no other option left for staying alive.
So, how do you donate bone marrow? By being part of a registry for Bone Marrow Donation. Be The Match (the registry I just linked to) is one such place. It is also mentioned in the video above. What they essentially do is act as an exchange between people who are willing to donate, and people who need the transplant. This is the first step that you have to take.
I began by saying that not enough people donate because not enough people know that it is something that can be done, and it is something that can save lives, and it is something that poses little or no risk to the donor. Here are some quick facts:
1. Less than 5% of the donors bone marrow is needed for a transplant. This is replaced within 4-6 weeks by the donors body.
2. In a lot of cases, this amount of bone marrow can be harvested simply from the blood stream. The process involves taking some medication to which promotes release of marrow in the blood stream, which can be harvested.
3. Even in the cases where the marrow is retrieved directly from the bones (which is needed sometimes), the procedure is done under anesthesia, and is not painful for the donor.
4. Most patients are able to get this done without having to stay in the hospital, and a complete recovery from symptoms such as fatigue is achieved within 2-3 weeks.
If you go to that registry site above, you will get answers to questions in by looking at the FAQs. I agree that it is not as simple as donating blood, but on the other hand you are saving a person’s life. And that has to count for something.