Geisinger Medical Center (GMC) was recently designated a National Marrow Donation Program (NMDP) collection site, becoming the only site in the region to collect bone marrow or blood stem cells from willing donors.
"It is very exciting and a major achievement to be designated a National Marrow Donation Program collection site," said Edward Gorak, D.O., Medical Oncologist/Hematologist and Co-Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program at GMC. "Willing bone marrow donors will no longer have to travel long distances to reach a collection site, and we are hopeful that as donating becomes more accessible, more individuals will be willing to donate."
A bone marrow transplant occurs when a healthy donor is matched with a sick patient, who will then be infused with the donor's healthy marrow or blood stem cells. Transplants can often be a cure for leukemia, blood cancers or other marrow-related diseases. For some patients, a bone marrow transplant is their only hope for survival, Dr. Gorak said.
When a patient is in need of a bone marrow transplant, their physician will search for matching donors through the NMDP's "Be the Match Registry," a database containing information about willing donors. Donors who are "a match" for a patient are contacted and, if they choose to donate, can have their bone marrow or blood stem cells collected at a site convenient for them, even if the patient to receive the donation is thousands of miles away.
"Becoming a collection center means that individuals will be able to donate at GMC and help patients throughout the world," Dr. Gorak said.