By KELLY WILSON

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- Area residents are urged to stop by the James E. Cary Cancer Center on Tuesday to sign up for the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.

Doctors search the registry every day to find a match for patients in need of stem cell transplants to treat conditions such as leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and other immune disorders.

Such a transplant requires taking cells from a donor's bone marrow or from a donor's blood.

"If you are in need of a bone marrow transplant, you will die without it," said Allison Givens, oncology service line manager at Hannibal Regional Hospital. "If you are able to be a donor, you are saving a person's life with the procedure. That's a pretty powerful thing."

The bone marrow drive will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Cancer Center. It is being offered at no cost as part of the National Marrow Donor Program's national campaign, "Thanks Mom."

The drive involves completing a medical application and taking a swab of the mouth, which will allow a person to be placed on the registry.

Almost anyone between the ages of 18 and 60 can register unless they have HIV, hepatitis, cancer or heart disease, severe back problems or diabetes.

Donors of certain ethnic backgrounds are in dire need -- blacks, American Indians, Asians, native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, Latinos or mixed heritage. Patients are more likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity.

Not everyone who joins the registry will be called to donate, but "the more people on the registry, the more people are going to be helped," Givens said.

It's the first time a public bone marrow drive will take place in Hannibal. Dr. Arif Bari, the Cancer Center's medical director, recently organized a doctor donor drive in which 19 physicians joined the registry.

"When told that a bone marrow transplant is needed, most people will turn to their family to find a possible match. Only 30 percent of those patients will find a match within their family. The other 70 percent will need to rely on people on the bone marrow registry," Bari said.

"As a donor, you always have an option about whether to proceed with the donation or not, (but) the gift of your bone marrow can save a life," he said.

All medical costs of the donor are paid by the patient's medical insurance or by the patient, sometimes with National Marrow Donor Program assistance. The program reimburses donors for travel costs and may reimburse other costs on a case-by-case basis.

For more information about the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, go to www.marrow.org. For more information about the drive, call the Cancer Center at (573) 406-5800.

-- kwilson@whig.com/221-3391