November is National Marrow Awareness Month. Bonfils Blood Center's Colorado Marrow Donor Program (CMDP), which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, wants you to give hope to families in need this November by joining or contributing funds that will allow others to join the Be The Match Registry.

Each year, thousands of people in the United States are diagnosed with diseases for which a blood stem cell or marrow transplant could be a cure. Approximately 70 percent of patients are unable to find a donor match within their family. Ethnically diverse patients have the greatest difficulty finding a suitable unrelated donor therefore, recruiting new and ethnically diverse stem cell donors is key to the ongoing success of the program.

"Often, the only chance at survival for a patient suffering from a blood-related disease is to receive a stem cell or marrow transplant from an unrelated donor," said Patty Owens, director of the CMDP. "We encourage the community in celebration of National Marrow Awareness Month and our 20th anniversary to come out and join the Be The Match Registry this November."

Healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 60 may join the registry at any of Bonfils' community donor centers, mobile blood drives or marrow donor recruitment drives. To register, potential donors will complete a health history and consent form and will provide a small sample of cells for initial testing. This sample of cells is collected either by a cheek swab technique or by giving an extra blood sample at the time of your blood donation. Visit our Web site or call 303.363.2300 for donor center and blood drive hours and locations or click here to see a complete list of marrow donor recruitment drives.

The total cost to add a new member to the Be The Match Registry is about $100. This includes the initial tissue typing test needed to match donors to searching patients and other related cost. Others have contributed toward the costs for people to join, which is why we ask that each potential donor make a tax-deductible financial gift as close to this amount as possible.

The CMDP also seeks volunteers interested in coordinating ethnic-focused marrow registration drives at their churches, schools, businesses or other community organizations. For more information about Bonfils' CMDP or to schedule a marrow drive, please call 303.363.2345.

The CMDP, administered by Bonfils Blood Center, has two primary initiatives - to facilitate stem cell and marrow transplants to give patients with blood-related diseases a chance for survival and to recruit more potential donors to the Be The Match Registry. Since its inception in 1989, CMDP has added more than 75,000 potential donors to the registry and has facilitated more than 400 blood stem cell or marrow transplants and more than 50 cord blood transplants to support patients in need all over the world.