There's a registry drive at college today and I'm torn.  My mom has leukemia (that right there probably says I can't) and I would love to be on the registry but I don't want to waste anyone's time if I cannot even donate post-RNY.  Anybody know?

(Flagged urgent because I head to class soon)

Never mind I looked up exclusions on the National Bone Marrow Registry's site and a BMI over 40, as well as my fibromyalgia, and asthma, and sleep apnea mean I can't. Sucks because I think having those but being ALIVE is better than being DEAD but I guess others don't agree...

I'm on the registry, so I logged on to see if there was an exclusion.  You can actually weigh 10% more than a bmi of 40 and they had a chart available.  Maybe by the time your Mom is ready, you'll be there.  Hopefully your sleep apnea will be resolved too.  I know nothing about fibro.  - but can that go into remission? 

Anyway, prayers for your Mom's recovery.  And, don't count yourself out as potenially helping, one way or another.

Laura

But the question remains - can RNY post ops donate?

I was told NOT to donate blood in the future.

The website did not indicate a specific exclusion.  They said that you could not be too overweight or too underweight.  It appears that if you are matched, they would test you to see if you were suitable for donation. 

I am on the registry.  I registered when my cousin's daughter needed a donor.  I have a BMI well over 40.  It did not seem to be an issue. Maybe if I was a match it would be a problem.  To get in the registry they draw a little blood that is all.  If you are a match maybe they would make you wait until your BMI is lower and sleep apnea is resolved, I don't know.  But I keep getting the news letter and notices of where to send a change of address etc. so they can find me.

It is certainly worth a try if you have a relative that needs it.  Relatives are much more likely to be a match, especially siblings, children, parents.

Luckily my Mom doesn't need it, at least not yet! And today all they did was take a cheek swab to test--don't even need to let them take blood! Still not sure if RNY excludes me, luckily the kid putting me into the system understood that my BMI is changing rapidly and said "what the hell?!" and put me in anyway

I have a Nephew that had leukemia and a friend also I  was put on the registry and then was giving plasma every week i had  a friend of mine that had rny she was told she could go back to giving after a year. So don't see why you couldn't give marrow.

To the best of my knowledge RNY does not exclude you from being a marrow donor; however each person needs to be looked at individually.  Depending on how your body is responding to the surgery will affect your ability to donate marrow/blood products.  If any of your CBC levels are low it's doubtful you would be a donor candidate- and you shouldn't as it puts your own health at an increased risk.  Marrow donation is stressfull on the body and other health ailments like apnea and fibro can be exacerbated when the body is stressed.  hope this helps. 

I'm a bone marrow transplant nurse. They do use donors with high BMI's. My guess is that they would use your peripheral stem cells instead of marrow. For that you are hooked up to a pheresis machine and just the cells are pulled off.
I encourage everyone to be on the list but particularly people of mixed races. It's really hard to find a match for those folks.
Good luck to your mom.
Deb T.