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Can You Donate Bone Marrow If You've Had Cancer?

Blood and bone marrow donation is a voluntary process in which your blood stem cells are extracted from your blood or bone marrow and given to a patient who is suffering from a specific cancer or disease, such as leukemia.

  1. Basic Requirements

    • Each country has different basic requirements for donation, which generally include age, height and weight. In the United States, you must between the ages of 18 to 60 and have a BMI of less than 40 in order to register in a donor program.

    Precancerous Cells

    • According to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), it is possible to register with the program to donate even if you have a history of precancerous cells.

    Stage 0 Cancer

    • The NMDP also states you can donate bone marrow if you have beaten local skin, cervical, breast or bladder cancer while it was in stage 0, or in situ. This means the cancer was detected and treated very early on.

    Other Cancers

    • For any other cancer, no matter what the stage, treatment or amount of time since recovery, you cannot donate marrow.

    To Donate

    • Join a bone marrow registry (see Resources). An HLA test is done by cheek swab either through a doctor or a mail-in kit. Your results are added to the registry, and if you are a match for someone in need, you will be called and asked to donate. If you cannot donate your marrow, you can donate money or time to support the foundation.

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