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What stem cell donation actually involves, why ancestry changes a patient's odds of finding a match, how to register in about fifteen minutes, and honest answers to the questions people ask us at every single drive.

The Basics

What Is Stem Cell Donation?

Stem cells live in bone marrow and in the bloodstream, and they can develop into every type of blood cell. For patients with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell disease and other blood conditions, a transplant of healthy stem cells from another person can be the treatment that works when nothing else has. The hard part is not the transplant. It is finding someone compatible.

Compatibility is set by Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) type — a set of markers you inherit from your parents, in combinations that cluster by ancestry. A sibling is the best bet, but most patients do not have a compatible one, so the search moves to the national stem cell registry and to strangers. Those strangers are overwhelmingly likely to share the patient's ancestry. If a community is thin on the registry, its patients wait longer and some of them run out of time. That arithmetic is the entire reason this campaign exists.

Joining the registry is free and involves no needles: a short online questionnaire, a kit in the post, a cheek swab, a pre-paid envelope. Fifteen minutes of your life, most of it spent waiting for the mail.

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How to Register

Joining the national stem cell registry is free and takes about two minutes of online form-filling, plus a swab when your kit arrives. Here is the whole process:

1
Start Online

Open the national stem cell registry's donor sign-up page and start the eligibility check. It is free and there is no appointment to book.

2
Check Eligibility

Complete a short online questionnaire. Most healthy adults aged 17–35 are eligible to register.

3
Receive Your Kit

A sample collection kit is mailed to your home, free of charge, within a few days.

4
Swab & Mail

Complete a simple cheek swab and mail the sample back in the pre-paid envelope provided.

5
You're Registered

Your HLA type is added to the registry. If you're ever a match for a patient, the registry will contact you.

Register With the National Registry ↗

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Most healthy adults between the ages of 17 and 35 are eligible to join the stem cell registry. You should be in good general health and willing to donate to any patient who needs you. Some medical conditions may affect eligibility. The national stem cell registry publishes a short eligibility check you can complete online.
No. Registration is completely free. The registry covers the cost of the sample kit, postage, testing, and if you're ever called to donate, all travel and expenses related to the donation process. There is no cost to you at any stage.
the registry will contact you. You'll go through additional health checks to confirm compatibility and ensure you're healthy enough to donate. You are never obligated to donate, but if you choose to proceed, you'll be guided through the entire process with full support.
Most stem cell donations today (about 90%) use peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation, a non-surgical process where stem cells are collected from the bloodstream, similar to donating plasma. Bone marrow donation is a surgical procedure done under anesthesia and is less commonly required. The type of donation needed is determined by what's best for the patient.
Stem cell compatibility is determined by HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) type — markers inherited from your parents that vary significantly across ethnic and geographic populations. Certain communities are currently underrepresented on the registry, meaning patients from those communities face much greater difficulty finding a compatible match. Every person from an underrepresented community who registers directly increases the chances that a patient from that community will find their life-saving match.
Yes. You can withdraw from the registry at any time (except in the rare case where a patient is already in preparation for your donation, where withdrawal would put their life at risk). You remain in control throughout the process.
Registries concentrate recruitment on 17- to 35-year-olds because patient outcomes are measurably better with younger donors. You can still help, and the help is not token: tell the people in that age range in your family, host a drive at your workplace, volunteer at a table, or donate blood instead. A good share of our registrations in 2026 came from someone over 35 having a conversation at a kitchen table.

External Resources

The National Registry

Donors Like Us does not hold the registry itself — registration happens with the national stem cell registry, and these are the pages worth reading before you sign up. On a real deployment, point these three links at your own registry's equivalents.

Join the National Stem Cell Registry
Begin your registration with the national stem cell registry
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Eligibility & Health Criteria
Who can register, which conditions affect eligibility, and why the age window is 17 to 35
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What Donation Involves
Peripheral blood stem cell donation and marrow donation, step by step, including recovery
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Ready?

Register Today

Two minutes of questions, one cheek swab, and your HLA type joins the registry. You may never be called. You may be the only person in the country who can help.

Join the Stem Cell Registry Ask Us a Question