When a family member is stricken with leukemia or another blood-related disease, a bone marrow transplant is sometimes recommended as the best chance for a cure. Usually, family members are tested first to determine if one of them would be a suitable donor. When no family member is a suitable match for donation, many families and communities organize marrow donor drives to try to find the "miracle match."

Organizing a successful drive involves taking the following steps:

• Contact the nearest donor center. You can find the nearest donor center through the National Marrow Donor Program web site: www.marrow.org.
  
• Determine the type of setting in which your drive will be: ~ at a corporate workplace? ~ as part of another community event? ~ as its own event?
  
• Who will fund the drive? Testing costs vary, so you should contact the nearest donor center to find out what the cost per donor will be.
  
• Choose several possible dates. The date you want has to be coordinated with the schedule of the donor center and others involved in its sponsorship
  
• Organize volunteers to help out at the drive.
  
• Approach local businesses about donating small items that can be given as tokens of appreciation to those who are tested.
  
• Make plans for publicizing the drive. The amount and type of publicity needed will depend, in part, on the setting and on how much funding will be available to pay for testing of those who wish to be tested.
  
• Have enough literature about bone marrow testing available for those who come to the drive so they can take it with them.

On drive day, celebrate your success!