Hi,

(I posted this post in the general forum, but thought it might be worth posting it here too.)

The recent donation by a young Canadian man of part of his liver to save the life of a complete stranger (a baby with biliary atresia) inspired me to look into something that I had long intended to do. I have wanted to be a bone marrow donor, but since 1992 have been either pregnant, breastfeeding, or on medication for much of that time.

I thought I should post here that I received an email from the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry today. They thanked me for my interest, but pointed out that research has found that the most beneficial outcome for a recipient is a donation from a young donor. They changed their age limit 18 months ago to donors between the ages of 18 and 40.

I'm disappointed that I have left my run too late. Had I known about the importance of the age of the donor, I would have found a way to donate much earlier.

I thought that I'd mention it here in case anybody has a similar desire to donate bone marrow, and needs to consider the age restriction factor. (Perhaps, for example, someone who is close to turning 40?)

Different countries might of course have different age criteria.

Cheers,

Lynne
www.biliaryatresiababy.blogspot.com