30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 15

Day 15: Challenge - Join the Bone Marrow Registry! It's completely free for you, but worth everything to someone waiting for a life-saving match for a bone marrow transplant. Many cancer patients (and people with other diseases, too) are in need of a transplant to get rid of their cancer and save their life. I could tic off the names of a dozen little cancer friends we have who have had or will be having bone marrow transplants. If Elena ever relapsed (heaven, forbid), a transplant would be in her future. If she didn't have a sibling match (her odds aren't the best having only one sibling), we would look to the National Bone Marrow Registry to find a match.

You can go here to sign up to join the National Bone Marrow Registry. You just do a little pre-screening online (answer some basic health questions), enter your information, and then they'll send you a swab kit. Nothing hurts; it doesn't cost money. Once your swab kit arrives in the mail, you just rub the inside of your cheek with this long Q-tip type thing and then label it and package it back up and send it back to the Registry. Simple as that. You're a member! Then you just sit back and carry on with life as normal - if you are a potential match for someone, the Registry will contact you.

So easy! But isn't it just THE COOLEST thing to think that you could be someone's life saving match??! I feel so passionately about this. Someone might be waiting for YOU. Or for ME! You or I could be that person - that one perfect match for someone needing a bone marrow transplant. And all we have to do is sign up, so that we are in the registry. People have died waiting for a match. Just last year I read a story about an 11 year old actress on Broadway, with leukemia, who passed away waiting for a Bone Marrow Transplant. They couldn't find a match for her. Ah, that is just unreal to me. She didn't die because the transplant didn't work or it was too harsh for her body - she didn't even have that chance.

I love this ad that the Bone Marrow Registry has out. I think it does a phenomenal job communicating that - that YOU could be the one. It's a super powerful and uplifting video and it's only a minute long. Take a minute to watch it.

What are we waiting for?

If you aren't registered already, I challenge you to click the link above and start the process. Even if you think, "Oh, I'm pretty sure I'm too old." or "I think I take too many medications to be accepted." or "Oh, I'm scared." I challenge you to just at least click the link and do the pre-screening. You won't be out anything and you can at least see if you are eligible. And as for the "I'm scared" part - signing up doesn't mean you are 100% committed with no turning back - while you should be completely willing when you sign up, you can always choose not to donate when the time comes.

If you are registered already, grab an "I've Joined" button (like the one on our sidebar) and post it on your blog or repost about joining the Bone Marrow Registry on your blog/facebook (feel free to copy and paste this), send out an e-mail to your friends and family with information on how to join, or tell people at work about the registry. Let's spread the word to save lives! You never know if you might be someone's match.

***To get an "I've Joined" button, click the "share" link on our button and choose the platform you'd like the code for - blogger, twitter, myspace, facebook, etc, etc.