★Any person ages 18 - 60 is eligible for testing. The limitations for giving blood DO NOT APPLY.

★Less than 30% of adults and childrenwho need a bone marrow transplantfind a suitable match among their own family members.

★The odds of matching marrow outside the immediate family range from 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 1,000,000.

★The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) currently arranges more than 140 transplants a month.

★70% of all NMDP volunteer donors are Caucasian, 10% are Hispanic, 2% are American Indian/Alaska Native, 7% are Asian/Pacific Islander, 10% are African American, and 2% are multiple race/other.

★Marrow tissue types are inherited just like skin and hair color, meaning that a person is more likely to find a donor within his or her own ethnic group.

★In order to provide comparable opportunities for matching of non-Caucasian patients, it is necessary for each race to be significantly over-represented in the NMDP registry (in comparison to their representation in the general population).