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    bamapantherKirsten West Savali
    4/01/17 1:59pm

    I signed up for bone marrow donation while in the military (in the early 90's). It wasn’t until 2011 when the registry contacted me, to my surprise, that I was a close match and requested my assistance. I am proud to say, I did step forward to help a person in need.

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      Sharonbamapanther
      4/01/17 2:25pm

      wonderful!

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    eowynsdottirKirsten West Savali
    4/01/17 10:03am

    Thank you so much for this article. I hope there is a jump in donations as a result.

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    Cali4lifeKirsten West Savali
    4/01/17 11:29am

    This is important and I am ashamed to say I am not on the registry and I never even thought about it much. Ugh. I’d also say that I have never encountered an active registration drive/attempt/poster or conversation with my dr in any state where I have lived, with HMO, PPO, or other. Even when I have had blood work this has simply never come up. I must have seen other articles on the topic though so that would be on me for just ignoring or not taking it in what it means. So, thank you for the article and for the work you do getting this news out there - 800,000 is far too few obviously.

    Respectfully: “We have a 34 percent chance of not finding a donor” <<edit.

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    DevonnaKirsten West Savali
    4/01/17 7:56pm

    I am Indian, and joined the bone marrow registry about 9 years ago after reading a similar article about the lack of minority donors. I just did it on-line, they mailed me a kit, and I mailed it back in. It’s easy! A friend of mine donated her bone marrow several years ago. She had some discomfort, but it was well worth it.

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    thundercatsaregoKirsten West Savali
    4/01/17 12:41pm

    I have always intended to get on the registry, but never followed through. I just checked Be the Match and there’s a drive in my city (in fact, on my campus) next week. Unfortunately, that’s about all the information they gave. No location, no contact information, nothing. So I have no way of knowing where, on my campus of 35,000 people and a few hundred offices/buildings, the drive is taking place. I’ll keep an eye out for it in campus announcements, but I didn’t see it posted anywhere on our website. Man, that’s a huge bummer.

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      Zabellathundercatsarego
      4/02/17 6:15pm

      You can easily sign up online. Answer some questions, they’ll send you a kit with swabs and instructions. Swab the inside of your cheek, mail it back, you’re on the registry.

      https://join.bethematch.org/supportjoin

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    PhoneBurnerElmoKirsten West Savali
    4/01/17 1:23pm

    Don’t forget to sign up to be an organ donor too!

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    CousinPamKirsten West Savali
    4/01/17 9:16pm

    I’ve been on the registry since 2005, I think. I was giving blood quarterly in the mid-aughts. (Now I give twice a year at work drives.) I’ve never been called but I absolutely would donate if I were contacted - I wouldn’t have registered otherwise.

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