[tobz]

Can confirm: this is an incredibly low-barrier-to-entry thing.

I'm a U.S. citizen, so I signed up with Be The Match. Four cheek swabs that they send you in the mail. Swab your cheeks, package them up, send them back.

I got notified that I was a preliminary match just five months after signing up. Sadly, I wasn't a full match (hopefully someone else was!) after going through the blood draw.

All in all, it cost me nothing monetarily and maybe 3 hours total between questionnaires and the blood draw when I got matched.

[treehau5]

I only worry about the drugs they have you take prior to increase your blood cell production

[nom]

Why? Others are donating a whole kidney or parts of their liver etc, which is much riskier. Compared to that, taking some drugs for short time to increase blood cell production sounds tame.

I'd rather worry about the bone marrow donation. Once you sign up, you potentially have to give bone marrow or have to live with the fact that you could've saved someones life, but didn't.