NATIONAL MARROW AWARENESS MONTH | November
National Marrow Awareness Month is an annual designation observed in November. During this time, we celebrate and honor the accomplishments of physicians who perform transplant research. We also acknowledge those who have donated stem cells and bone marrow in order to save others’ lives. Every year in the U.S., over 17,000 people are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses in which they need a bone marrow, or umbilical cord blood transplant. These types of transplants replace diseased cells with healthy cells. The tricky part tends to be finding a well-matched donor. This is key when it comes to a successful transplant, which is why the more people who donate marrow, the more survivors we have. This month as we honor National Marrow Awareness, we encourage you to consider becoming a donor and potentially saving a life. If you are someone that regularly donates or has in the past, we thank you!
HOW TO OBSERVE
Look into donating your bone marrow. Use #MarrowAwarenessMonth, or #DonateMarrow to post on social media. Donating means volunteering to donate your cells for blood stem cell or marrow transplantation. You can donate to a family member, a friend, or anyone in the world who needs it and matches with you. There are several other ways you can make a difference this month, too.
- Post on social media to raise awareness, and using the hashtags listed above
- Join a Marrow Awareness event near you and post a picture
- If you can’t find an event near you, organize one yourself!
- Donate money if you can’t donate your bone marrow
HISTORY
In our research, we were unable to find the creator of National Bone Marrow Awareness Month.