Celebrating National Marrow Awareness Month (Part 1 of 3)

Part 1 – Why Bone Marrow?

Our team here at the Icla da Silva Foundation is ready for another month of dedicated service to those around the world in crucial need of bone marrow transplants.   It’s November, National Bone Marrow Awareness month, and this is part one of a three part series.

Why Bone Marrow?

Bone marrow is soft tissue on the bone interior.  The stem cells it houses are an essential part of producing enough healthy red blood cells.  It is also crucial for the production of lymphocytes, which support the body’s immune system.  

There are countless diseases and chronic illnesses which require a bone marrow transplantation.  Blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma are the most common, but by no means the only reason a person may require new bone marrow. Sickle cell anemia sufferers and patients with similar life-threatening diseases also rely on marrow donation. For some, the bone marrow transplant is required before any underlying condition can effectively be treated.

Donor Registries

The Icla da Silva Foundation fully supports this month’s National Marrow Awareness Campaign.  The foundation’s mission is to encourage all healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 44 to register as potential bone marrow donors.  About 1 in 430 potential donors will actually donate, so your commitment to donating for a patient in need is obviously important.  Even if a potential donor waits years to be called, registering puts one in the privileged position of saving the life of a fellow human being.  There is nothing more special or worthy in this world.

Icla da Silva is the largest recruitment center for the Be The Match registry.  We work in close collaboration with Be The Match, the most diverse bone marrow registry in the world.  It operates to serve people around the world in search of their perfect marrow match.  The larger the pool of potential donors, the greater chance each patient has of finding that vital match they need.

Join the Registry

You can join the registry and become a life saving donor by using the following link here.