Over the past couple of days, I’ve heard two separate stories of leukemia/lymphoma diagnoses where the patient–one a young father, the other a young child–is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. 

The number of people who need transplants is growing, and the bone marrow donor registry needs to grow with it.

So, a little Friday public service announcement from Fresh Living – did you know how easy it is to join the “Be the Match Registry,” the new name for the national registry of bone marrow donors? 

All you have to do is go to this website and click “Join Now.”  You fill out a form, make sure you’re medically qualified to register (between ages 18 and 60, free of a number of illnesses, etc.).  Then they send you a kit in the mail–you take a cotton swab to the inside of your cheek to collect some cells, put it in the package they send you, and return it to the registry.

If and when you are matched with a patient in need, you’ll go through a process to either donate bone marrow or circulating blood.  There are medical things you’ll need to learn at that time (click here for more), but meanwhile, think about joining the registry – you could save a life.

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