Match Play

I got a call the other day from the National Marrow Donation Program that I might be a potential match for a patient with lymphoma.

I don't remember exactly when I signed up for the registry.  Most likely, I did it back when I was in graduate school and thus more susceptible to the pull of good causes.

While I don't remember signing up, I do remember thinking that I would never in a million years be asked to donate; the odds were just too long, I figured.  And besides, most people who needed bone marrow would just get it from a family member anyway. 

Since I got the phone call about being a possible match, I did a little research.  The National Bone Marrow Program has almost 7 million people registered.  That's a pretty impressive number, until you consider that according to the latest census, there are approximately 308 million people in the United States.  That means that just over 2% of the population is on the registry.  Factor in that 70% of patients who need bone marrow don't find a match withing their family, and the number seems even smaller.

I'm in a wait-and-see mode right now, as they do more tests on my blood to see if I am, indeed, a match.  And I'm not going to lie, I have reservations about donating should I be a match.  But I don't see how I could possible say no.  How can you take away someone's hope like that?