Bonfils analyzes a donor's blood, then stores the results in a national registry. The registry is searched whenever a leukemia victim can't find a compatible donor from a family member. That's when they go to the registry. If the search turns up a compatible match, Bonfils contacts the donor and arranges to extract the marrow, an outpatient procedure that takes about two hours and requires general anesthesia. The marrow is transplanted the same day.
Side effects are minor.
They say it feels like they've taken a hard fall on the ice. There are about 60,000 potential donors on Colorado's registry, and 4.2 million on the national registry, Tulleen said. Lea Opitz of Broomfield added herself to the list of donors on Saturday. As a Bonfils medical technician tied a piece of rubber around her arm and stuck a needle in her vein, Opitz said the potential to make a life-ordeath difference in a cancer sufferer's life drew her in. I couldn't always do things like this for other people in my life.