Lack of Funds a Key Problem at Registry

At least 200,000 more people are needed in the national registry to meet requests for bone marrow transplants, says Liz Quam of the National Marrow Donor Program.

The problem with achieving that goal is a lack of money.

The cost of the preliminary blood test to register a potential donor ranges from $60 to $75--a discount price from the laboratories that do the tests at no profit. According to Life-Savers, a donor recruitment organization based in Covina, about 10% to 15% of the cost of testing is usually collected through donations at the drive. The rest is paid through private fund raising or by the patient’s family.

Donor recruitment specialists say the system would collapse if potential donors were asked to pay for the test. Many suggest that the federal government should provide the $15 million needed for testing an additional 200,000 donors. Proponents of a federally funded donor drive said it was unfair to ask the families of transplant patients to pay for donor testing.

For information about becoming a donor, call Life-Savers Foundation at 1-800-950-1050 or the National Marrow Donor Program at 1-800-654-1247.