Bone marrow regenerates

Salamah also mistakenly thought that she would have less bone marrow if she donated it. But she found out yesterday that bone marrow regenerates in a few weeks.

"I thought, if I can help someone, why not?" she said.

The swab will be used to determine the tissue type and the data entered into the register of bone marrow donors, maintained by the Bone Marrow Donor Programme.

When a patient needs a bone marrow donor, he will search through this register to find a match - the donor and recipient must have the same DNA make-up.

"There's a one in 20,000 chance (of a match) in each ethnic group," said BMDP donor recruitment coordinator Jefferey Loh.

Potential donors must be between 17 and 50 years old, in good health and must fully understand the implications of bone marrow donation.

Singapore currently has 50,000 registered donors - that's a 1 per cent donation rate out of a population of about five million people.

Miss Lim, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy, was touched by the drive.

Her voice over the phone cracked as she said: "They don't know me and yet they are willing to help."

This article was first published in The New Paper.