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Like a lot of yidden, I got my cheek swabbed by one of those shul drives some years back, but I never thought anything of it. The registry now reached out to me telling me I’m a potential match for a patient.
Has anyone here ever gone through the process of donating stem cells or bone marrow through Gift of Life or other organizations? What’s the process like? The prospect seems overwhelming, and it would be comforting to hear someone else’s experience.
Also, I do bez”H plan on consulting a rav, but I wanted to know of possible halachic or hashkafic considerations for going through such a process: gifting to a non-Jew (although there might be a strong chance the patient is Jewish b/c of the match), pikuach nefesh, bittul torah for leaving yeshiva, maybe there are others I didn’t think of?
Another point. That you could cause a major letdown for a very ill person.
What does the donor lose or what is the cost to him (not financial, other)?
n0mesorah,
That’s why I never try to do any chessed. I don’t want to let anyone down in the event that I’m unsuccessful
Dear Menlo,
I was pointing out the reverse.
Oh
I don’t see any review from gift of life donor or patient. You must investigate the fundation, their sponsor, and find at least one review. Usually when people go through this type of procedures, and if they are successfull, they will share their experience.
For work, I work as a physician. There is no downside to donating. They sedate you. They stick a big needle in your pelvic bone and draw out the stem cells that way. I’ve never had it done personally unfortunately as what an amazing mitzvah that would be. But other than being sore for a bit, there should be no downside at all.
I was a match for someone about a year ago. They explained to me that to be a match you must be a relative in some way although they would not reveal the persons identity. I took an initial blood test to confirm whether or not I was in fact a match, I was. I was planning my trip to Florida, where they have their facility. I had to take a day off of work to travel a distance to an office affiliated with Gift of Life for a physical. I waited several hours in the waiting room only for the physical to be just a few minutes, after taking blood again. I was of course extremely excited to literally be saving a persons life. I also was very curious who the distant relative might be. Turned out my platelet count was too low and the procedure would be too risky. I could not stop thinking about the recipient who was hopeful to receive his treatment only to be let down by a factor they could have determined way earlier from the first blood test. Sorry I could not share a full experience with you but if I can recommend anything it’s to make sure they take as much data as can be useful from the initial blood test in order not to give false hope to the donor and recipient.
There’s stem cell donation and bone marrow donation.
Stem cell donation – a lot more common, similar to donating blood, but takes longer.
Bone marrow donation – typically done when a child is the recipient, much less common, and it’s a procedure with anesthesia.
Gift of life does both, and they will tell you which one is necessary for the patient.I have a friend that donated stem cells. One either donate at a hospital nearby, or if you’d like Gift of Life will fly you to Florida, to donate at their HQs.
People with similar ancestry tend to match, so a Jew matching with a Jew is quite likely.
It’s truly an opportunity to save a life, this is literally a cure for the patient and it’s possible that they will die without it.
Reach out to Gift of Life for a detailed overview.
Someone I am associated with will be donating in the very near future. They have provided the donor with a detailed overview and I was privy to the information.
Never do any procedure without consulting those that you trust, such as your physician and others that you would normally consult with.
Everything in life has risks, including a short car drive. But in the scheme of things this is considered a very low-risk procedure.
From one participant who shared his(her) experience, I fund this quite suspicious, they draw blood twice from a patient then said we made a mistake, you actually are not a match. What are they doing with the collected data?
My husband (OBM) and I both benefited from marrow donations during our struggles with cancer. I will always be grateful to those who donated regardless of the outcomes.
Dear Ze,
Online reviews?!? That is what you call research?!?
Stem cell not taken necessarily near pelvis, can be taken from forearm. It’s just harvesting cells from your blood hardly talking anything from you but you can ask shaaloh about being chovel yourself even so.
Done it, it’s not big deal if you don’t mind needles. Dunno which region but often they will pay for day off work.
Zetruth. If you were referring to me, that’s not exactly how it went. The first time they drew blood was just to double check if I was in fact a match, and I was. The second was to test my health and if I was a proper candidate to do the procedure. It was after this second time they drew blood that they saw that my platelet count was low which can make donating blood in this quantity dangerous. I recommended to them that they may as well collect that data from the first blood test and don’t drag on the patient with high hopes.
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