Am I too old to be a bone marrow doner?

[CoolHands]

age 43. Never done it or gone on a register (is there one?). If not, how do you go about it?

[CoolHands]

answered my own question, you have to be under 30. No wonder there's not enough people on the register

http://www.anthonynolan.org/8-ways-you-could-save-...

[rich83]

Thats odd. friend of mine had a BM translate from a 47yo german man, made the EU/german law is different

[BoRED S2upid]

I'm sure there's a very good reason for under 30. You can still donate everything else though (when your time is up) and they do use quite a lot.

[tr7v8]

I was told it was 49 when I asked at a blood donor session.

[CoolHands]

it basically looks like cos over 30 you're too likely to have something wrong with you, so it wastes the money to attempt to get you on the register (£100 which seems steep?)

[craig r]

CoolHands said:

it basically looks like cos over 30 you're too likely to have something wrong with you, so it wastes the money to attempt to get you on the register (£100 which seems steep?)

I got given a leaflet when I was donating blood last year. I questioned the under 30 thing as I was 31 and the blood nurse said it didn't matter. So I signed up, and got a card that says I'm on the register.

[Biggles111]

Thanks for raising this, and for considering being a donor. I am in remission from acute leukaemia, for which I had major chemo last year, and whilst I have not needed this help yet, a lot of patients I have met have had their lives saved by donations. This is often of stem cells, which are harvested from the blood and is relatively easy.

No, you are not too old! Anthony Nolan take people from 16 to 30. However, Delete Blood Cancer, www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk take people up to age 60. It is a simple swab test from inside the cheek. My wife, brothers and sister have all registered, whilst they are not a match for me they may help others.

Currently many matches are less than 10/10, the more donors we can get registered the better that matches will be.

Thanks for your help!

[ode]

CoolHands said:

answered my own question, you have to be under 30. No wonder there's not enough people on the register

http://www.anthonynolan.org/8-ways-you-could-save-...

Don't give up just yet. I looked into this recently and have joined the British Bone Marrow Registry at the last blood donor session I attended. Got the letter confirming I was on the Register a week or two later. I'm 44.

[Neith]

I donated at 28 and the cut-off point was around mid 30s. I didn't donate through a register (for a family member where I was the best match).

Important to note that there's 2 different ways of donating- either by injection into the bone or more commonly by PBSC (peripheral blood stem cell donation). This involves a few days of self-injection followed by a procedure that extracts blood through one arm and collects the stem cells before returning the rest via the other arm. Mine lasted about 6 hours and was pretty uncomfortable but not as bad as I was expecting.

Look up GCSF injections if you want to know about the self-injection stage.

[Promised Land]

Neith said:

Mine lasted about 6 hours and was pretty uncomfortable but not as bad as I was expecting.

But a very small price to pay to help someone who needs your donation and I'd say their life is probably more uncomfortable than your 6 hours. Well done though for going through with it.

I got on the Anthony Nolan donor list after 30, it was a big recruitment drive locally to help two people by trying to find a match. IIRC the cut off that day was 40, they had a massive response, much bigger than anticipated.

No match was found locally but the two did finally get donors from what I remember, also I'm fairly sure once on it you remain on the list until you're about 60.

The low cut off from what I read was because young adults, males in particular are far greater matches.

If you can't get on it, start donating blood if you don't already, an hour of your life every 3 months is nothing, just wish I'd have started doing it 20 years ago. You don't lie with a needle in you for an hour, 5-10 mins max, the whole process from registering to your biscuits and tea.

Edited by Promised Land on Thursday 19th February 18:53