Frequently asked questions

Our official name is the DoD Marrow Donor Program / Salute to Life. We work exclusively with military personnel and their dependents, DoD civilian employees, Reservists, and Coast Guard and National Guard members to facilitate marrow and stem cell donations. Our program was established by Public Law 101-302 in 1990 and operates in Rockville, Maryland.

Our organization is the only one authorized to work with U.S. military and DoD-affiliated donors, but we partner with NMDP, which recruits and assists civilian donors. We use many of the same processes and technologies. However, our organization is uniquely suited to address the practical needs of active-duty donors.

No. Only military members, military dependents and DoD civilian employees may join through our organization, but they join the national registry. You could be a match for any patient who needs a transplant, civilian or military.

Our national registry works cooperatively with registries in 56 countries to address the needs of all citizens. A best match may be found in the U.S., but it might also be in Germany, Israel or Japan. Marrow and stem cells might be sent to, or from, a number of locations around the world, depending on the patient's need.

Currently, about half of all donations involve an international donor or recipient. This cooperation has increased the pool of potential donors to more than 44 million.

No. To join through our donor center, you must be:

• A member of the U.S. military, Reserve, Coast Guard or National Guard; a military dependent; or a DoD civilian employee
• Between the ages of 18 and 60
• In good general health. For example, we cannot accept donors with HIV, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, hepatitis B or C, kidney or liver disease, or bleeding disorders. NMDP's medical guidelines list more.

If you are not affiliated with the Department of Defense, you can register through nmdp.org. If you do not meet the age or health qualifications, there are still other ways to help.

It depends. Certain factors that prevent you from donating blood, such as living in the United Kingdom, taking malaria medication or having a recent tattoo, do not prevent you from becoming a marrow donor. Other factors, such as positive HIV status or a bleeding disorder, may keep you from donating marrow or stem cells.

If you are in good general health and wish to take part, complete the registration form. Donor Center staff can help determine whether you qualify.

Registration is easy and takes about 10 minutes. You complete a short online form and swab your cheek. Kits are available at scheduled drives and walk-in sites, or you can request one by mail. Completed kits are returned to the Donor Center for processing.

There is no need. Once you have joined the national registry, you are part of it until you turn 61 or ask to be removed. There is only one national registry, and joining more than once creates problems rather than solving them.

If you joined the registry before joining the military, your hometown Donor Center will forward your information to our center if you are called as a potential match. If a civilian Donor Center contacts you, be sure to tell them you are a member of the military.

Yes, but not through our Donor Center. When you join the national registry, you enroll as a potential donor for any well-matched patient, not just a family member or friend. To be typed for one person only, coordinate your testing through that patient's medical team.

Yes. Raise awareness, because many people know very little about marrow and stem cell donation. Take part in a registration drive or open a walk-in site. We can send you all of the materials you need to hold an event on your own base, camp, fort or installation.

Interested? Email recruiting@dodmarrow.org.

No. It takes time for your sample to be shipped, typed (your human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, pattern is determined) and added to the national registry. Once you're on the registry, you may be contacted as a match for one patient, several patients or no one at all.

We can't estimate your chances of being matched, and most registrants are never contacted. Please don't be disappointed. Just being on the registry offers hope to patients and their families.

Yes. We reach out to potential donors through periodic email and text messages, Facebook and our website. If you registered through our organization before 2015 and want to opt in to courtesy messages, email donors@dodmarrow.org.

We hope you'll stay in touch, too, by updating your contact info when you move or change jobs.

If you're a potential match for a patient, time is of the essence. With outdated contact information, we lose precious time trying to find your new address or phone number.

We ask that you list not only your own contact information but also a family member or friend who could reach you in the years to come. When you move or change phone numbers, please update your information so we can find you quickly when needed.

Update it online or call 1-800-MARROW-3 (1-800-627-7693).

You don't need to transfer out of our Donor Center. We are proud to serve not only active-duty members, but also Reservists and inactive, separated and retired military members.

We ask donors to list their Social Security number (SSN) when they register. It can be critical for finding a donor quickly, years after they joined the registry.

Many of our donors move often and change contact information regularly. Donors may leave the military or change their names or genders. Your SSN never changes, and it can be used to find your current residence and contact information.

Our program stores your SSN in a secure environment and follows industry-leading security best practices to protect your information.

It's a number assigned to your sample when it arrives at the laboratory. This unique identifier lets you be listed in the national database without releasing your name or other identifying information. Your number is assigned once your sample has been typed, which can take up to two months after you swab.

Once you're called as a match, there are several steps before donation. First, you complete a health history questionnaire and give a blood sample. If that evaluation is promising, you'll have a thorough physical exam. Once you're cleared as healthy to donate, you give stem cells in one of two ways:

1. Marrow donation. A small portion of marrow (the soft center of the bone that makes blood cells) is removed from your hip with a needle. It's done in a hospital, under general anesthesia.
2. Peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation. For five days, you receive a drug that causes your bones to release stem cells into the bloodstream. On the fifth day, the extra cells are collected with a blood-filtering machine called an apheresis machine.

See every step of the process

It depends on the person and the type of donation. Marrow donors tend to have hip and back pain and fatigue. PBSC donors tend to have headaches, bone and muscle aches, trouble sleeping and fatigue.

Not everyone has the same symptoms, and some people are more bothered by them than others. Whatever the type of donation, most donors report a return to full health within a few weeks.

Not the donor. You don't pay for HLA typing, travel, medical costs or any other donation-related expenses. Depending on the expense, it's covered by our organization or by NMDP.

Our goal is to keep the cost of donation low so we can help as many people as possible. That's why we don't offer first-class airline tickets or other luxury options to donors.