Although many employers offer paid time off to donate marrow, some donors have found it necessary to take unpaid time off from work or use personal vacation time. Deciding to participate as a marrow donor is a serious matter. A volunteer donor who is successfully matched with a transplant candidate may decide not to go ahead with the process. The NMDP's participating centers always respect the decision of the matched volunteer donor. If you have any doubts about whether you would be willing to actually donate marrow, it is best to delay joining the Registry until you are sure.
Uncommitted donors give false hope to patients awaiting transplants.
Also remember that although a volunteer donor may decline at any stage in the process, once he or she signs the Intent to Donate form, the patient begins pretransplant treatment and will most likely die without the transplant. A complete physical examination is arranged to ensure that the donation is as safe as possible for both the donor and the patient. Sometimes, the physical exam identifies an otherwise undetected health problem, indicating that marrow should not be collected from the potential donor or that the procedure should be delayed. This often creates extreme disappointment for the volunteer donor, as well as the patient. Those who pass the physical are not asked to make any accommodations in diet, work or social habits before the marrow donation.