National Marrow Donor Program

For 25 years, the National Marrow Donor Program has managed the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world. This program is a nonprofit effort that links people in need of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant with a healthy volunteer donor. This donation is a gift of life for those who do not have a suitable donor within their own family.

Healthy donors from throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington undergo bone marrow harvest or blood stem cell apheresis at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center, under the care of the transplant program physicians and staff. Legacy Cancer Institute is the only designated collection and apheresis center in Oregon for the National Marrow Donor Program.

In apheresis, blood is collected and then part of the blood is taken out, for example, white blood cells or platelets, and the rest goes back to the donor. It’s also known as pheresis.

Bone marrow and stem cell donation be an effective treatment option for people with certain forms of blood cancer. That is because chemotherapy can destroy bone marrow, where blood cells are made. Stem cell transplant or a bone marrow transplant can replenish the body with healthy blood.