National Marrow Donor Drive

Via Boing Boing, the National Marrow Donor program is offering free online registration until May 19th:

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/Join_Now_Special/TM/tm08_join_now.html

They've also got a good list of Myths and Facts about bone marrow donation. I donated marrow back in 1990. Not as part of the National Registry, but as part of my treatment. It was an "insurance policy," taken after I was in remission, and locked up in a freezer somewhere at Fred Hutchinson, in case I ever relapsed. The thought was that I'd donate my own (cancer-free) marrow to myself if I needed it. There's some discomfort -- my lower back was sore for a few days afterwards -- but none of that really mattered in the larger scheme of things. I'd gladly trade a couple of days of pain for a chance to save someone's life down the road.