It seems that my knowledge concerning stem cell donation is out of date, as I discovered today. I was under the impression that you had to have a surgical operation under full general anaesthetic to extract bone marrow containing stem cells from the Iliac crest of the hip bone... not any more!
All they need to do now is give you a jab with a stimulating factor so you start releasing the stem cells into your blood stream and then they harvest them from your blood. It's almost like blood platelet donation. Saving a life just became much easier. How awesome is that?!
You can talk to someone at your local blood donation centre about donating stem cells (and blood/platelets) or get in touch with the Anthony Nolan Trust. They came to our work place today and all I had to do was fill out a form and spit in a tube so that they could get a tissue (cheek cells) sample to match against their patient database. How easy is that!
