Joining BeTheMatch Registry®

Patient’s - Why NH-BMT?

To assist in growing the National Marrow Donor Program's (NMDP) unrelated donor registry donor pool, NH-BMT has partnered with BeTheMatch Registry®. Participation is voluntary. If you have been HLA-typed for a family member or friend, you can join the BeTheMatch Registry®. Because HLA tissue types are inherited, patients are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity. While everyone is encouraged to join, donors from these backgrounds are especially needed:

  • Black or African American

  • American Indian or Alaska Native

  • Asian

  • Native Hawaiian or another Pacific Islander

  • Hispanic or Latino

By joining the BeTheMatch Registry®, your typing results will be entered into a database that is used to help locate potential unrelated donors for those patients’ battling diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and many others. Donors never have to pay to donate, and they are never paid to donate. For additional information, you can log onto bethematch.org, BeTheMatch Registry® Vital Statistics, and Guidelines for Joining the Registry Link.

Beth Wilson meets her unrelated donor

Beth Wilson, an unrelated NSH blood and marrow donor recipient, was surprised by her husband for her October 2018 birthday with a March 2019 trip to Cologne, Germany. Unbeknownst to Beth, her unrelated donor, Alina Theine, was waiting at the train station when she arrived in Germany. The German donor registry, DKMS Deutschland, which helped facilitate Alina’s donor collection with the NSH BMT program, was at the train station filming their first meeting. Beth, her husband, and Alina then traveled to the medical clinic, Cellex, to meet with the medical staff who participated in Alina's donation.

Germany's national news broadcast Beth and Alina's meeting. Since their story aired, over 300 potential donors have signed up for the DKMS donor registry. Beth and Alina also spoke about their story to three classes in two different schools and the importance of donating blood or bone marrow. One of the schools they visited had a student who matched a patient and has begun the donation process. Please click here to view Beth’s CNN story on the donor meeting.

If you are interested in becoming a donor, please visit, https://bethematch.org/support-the-cause/donate-bone-marrow/ Please visit Beth’s journey with acute leukemia, blood and marrow transplant, donation, and survivorship after transplant on her Facebook page, Beth's Second Battle, and Instagram page, @bethdefying.

Photo of Patient meeting unrelated donor