What is bone marrow?

Bone marrow is soft tissue found in the centre of some of the bones in your body. This bone marrow produces stem cells and stem cells are needed to make blood. Some diseases such as leukaemia stop bone marrow working properly. This means that it is not able to produce healthy blood.

For some people chemotherapy treatment will be enough, but for others they need to have a lifesaving stem cell or bone marrow transplant. If the transplant is successful, the new bone marrow will be able to make healthy cells again and person who has received the transplant will get better.

For 30% of people they can a donation from a member of their family, but 70% other people have to rely on people donating through Bone Marrow Registries.

How do you become a donor?

To become a donor you need to register on a bone marrow registry. This is a list of people who are willing to donate that holds information about their tissue type. One of the main registers is held by the Anthony Nolan Trust.

If your tissue match is a potential match for someone requiring a transplant you will be contacted by the Anthony Nolan Trust.

Who can register as a donor?

To register as a donor you need to be:

• Aged 18 to 49 years old.
• In good general health
• Over 8 stone in weight.

More information

Find out more about what is involved in donating bone marrow from the Anthony Nolan Trust.