26th Space Aggressor Squadron leads way in bone marrow donation drive Published Oct. 21, 2008 By Capt Jessica Martin 926th Group public affairs SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- More than 465 names were added to the C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program's database during a registration drive here Oct. 3 and 4. The 26th Space Aggressor Squadron decided to take on a project of registering volunteer donors after the squadron's commander, Lt. Col. Rob Rysavy, shared his positive experience as a donor. "A year ago I was identified as a bone marrow donor for an anonymous recipient suffering from a particularly vicious cancer known as Multiple Myeloma," said Colonel Rysavy. "When the phone rang and I was given an opportunity to save a life, I felt like I had won the lottery." The C.W. Bill Young DoD Marrow Donor Center is one of 79 in the United States working with the National Marrow Donor Program. The center was established to recruit donors from active-duty military, their immediate family members, civil service employees, and Coast Guard, National Guard and Reserve personnel. Since the creation of the NMDP in 1986, more than seven million people, including more than 400,000 service members, have registered as marrow donors. "On any given day, more than 6,000 people are waiting for a bone marrow match," said Colonel Rysavy. "The bottom line is that the need is great and the available donors are few." In order to help meet the need for donors, personnel from the 26 SAS received training on how to register volunteers, and then set up their own collection center at the base. To register, volunteers had an oral swab from the inside of their cheek taken and filled out a consent form. At the end of the drive, the 26 SAS packaged up the swabs and sent them to the program's laboratory in Washington D.C. According to the C.W. Bill Young DoD Marrow Donor Program, the swabs are tested to determine the volunteer's Human Leukocyte Antigen type. The confidential information is placed on a registry, where it remains until the volunteer's 61st birthday. If test results indicate a volunteer is a match for a patient in need, the volunteer is asked to consider donating marrow or peripheral blood stem cells. If they choose to donate, they're provided with extensive education on the marrow/PBSC donation process and given a complete physical examination to ensure they're in good health. The actual donation is performed at either Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., the University of Maryland Greenbaum Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., or at Fairfax Pathology Associates in Fairfax, Va. All costs for HLA typing are paid for by DoD, and all testing, medical fees and any travel expenses are paid for by the receiving patient. "The military has been terrific," said Dr. Robert Hartzman, C.W. Bill Young DoD Marrow Donor Program Director. "In the last year, 400 have donated marrow--on average, one DoD member donates marrow every day. It really says something about DoD people." For more information on the C.W. Bill Young DoD Marrow Donor Program, visit http://www.dodmarrow.org.