Registration

During my next blood donation I decided to sign up for the bone marrow donor registry. It's not complicated — the questionnaire is quite similar to the one for blood donation. You need a blood sample taken, which is no problem during a blood donation — just one extra vial. It's worth thinking in advance about whether you'd prefer collection from the pelvic bone (under anaesthesia) or from venous blood (separation). The second method is longer — easily 6 hours. In the Czech Republic the collection centre is in Plzeň.

Update: A few days later I was contacted by the local centre at FN Brno. They asked about medication I take regularly. Because the registry wants to be one hundred percent certain there's no risk to the donor, I was declined. While this doesn't prevent me from donating blood, I can't donate bone marrow. They don't want to put me at risk.