Our Misson

OUR MISSION

To ensure every patient, regardless of ethnicity, fighting a blood cancer or disorder treatable by a bone marrow/PBSC transplant, receives hope for a life-saving donor match. We inspire compassion, spread awareness, assist patient families, and grow donor registration to give everyone an equal chance at hope.

WHY DO WE NEED BONE MARROW/PBSC DONORS ?

Every year over 18,000 people, ages 0-74, are diagnosed with any of over 70 different life-threatening malignant and non-malignant diseases; a bone marrow/PBSC transplant from a donor can treat these patients to save their life.

The odds of finding a match for a patient are based on their individual ethnic composition, this is called HLA matching.

Only 30% of patients have a match within their families (usually a brother or sister with the same set of biological parents), but for the other 70% they have to rely on an unknown unrelated donor.

These are the odds of finding a match based on ethnic background:

Multi-Racial- Far less than 29%

Black/African America- 29%

Asian/Pacific Islander- 47%

Hispanic/Latino- 48%

Native- 60%

White- 79%

What does this mean?

This means that we need committed donors of all ethinic backgrounds represented on the donor registry, because together all tides rise.

A successful bone marrow transplant can cure patients diagnosed with diseases like Leukemias, Lymphomas, Aplastic Anemia, Sickle Cell Disease, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, Krabbe Disease, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Hurler Syndrome, Multiple Myeloma, and many, many more.

When we don't have committed registered donors within our communities, that searching 70% don't have this treatment option available to them, and a bone marrow transplant is usually the only option, or only one left.

At any given time over 15,000 people worldwide are waiting for a matching donor, half of those being in the United States. And every year only 7,000 transplants take place.

You can change the direction of someone's life by swabbing your cheek to join the Gift of Life registry and committing to saving a life if matched to a patient in need.

(Only about 1 in 430 registry members go on to donate to a patient.)

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About Us

ABOUT US

Bone Marrow Connection was formed through the bonds of its founders, Sydney, Amy and Alx--friends who have been working together professionally for over ten years.

Amy lost her son Tyson to Leukemia when he was 11 years old. As a multi-racial patient there were no matching bone marrow donors on the registry-- twenty years has gone by the registry still lacks representation for people of color and mixed-race patients.

Alx learned about the bone marrow registry in February 2020 when his wife Amy held a bone marrow donor drive. As a black man he saw the lack of representation for his community and others and joined the registry in honor of Tyson. Sydney is a registered bone marrow donor and in June 2020 she got a call that changed her life, she matched a searching patient. She dove into the research of the donor process and knew the statistics could be changed, so she went to Amy and Alx with an idea-- together with different life and career experiences they formed BMC in July of 2020.

Bone Marrow Connection is a registred 501(c)(3), and with professional careers in video creation, marketing, advertising, education, social engagement, communication and project management. We have the knowledge and expertise to make a real change through educational video content and grass roots community connection.

Serving Oregon and the World.