Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Recycled Bones

When I was a kid, I never understood why Shaggy and Scooby-Doo were so afraid of skeletons.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Scooby-Doo, but the idea of The Mystery Machine speeding away from a dancing skeleton did not put a scare in me. I just thought, “Hey, Fellas, wait about a second and those bones are going to fall down into a pile on the ground. Case solved.”

As a grown up, I’m on a campaign to collect bones. HeeeHeeeeHeee. No, I’m not a ghoul, but I do want your bones... for the Bone Bank.

Did you know that human bone is one of the most commonly transplanted tissues, second only to blood? And it’s been estimated that as many as 300,000 people world-wide receive bone transplants each year. That’s more than 25 times the number of people undergoing kidney transplant and 100 times the number who undergo cardiac transplant.

The Bone Bank is a facility for collecting, storing and freezing human bone for use in patients requiring a bone allograft, or the transplantation of bone between two unrelated people.

Bone donation has increased in the last few decades. Like other tissues and organs, such as skin, corneas, hearts, lungs and kidneys, bone is made available through the gift of donation after death.

Donors provide whole bones for use as structural grafts, in joint replacement, tumor removal and disease reconstruction and even replacing of whole bones, if necessary.

Bone banks are operated like any other tissue transplant bank. A rigorous screening process assures that a transplant recipient is receiving a safe bone transplant. The retrieved bone is stored in an ultra-low temperature freezer which destroys the cells responsible for rejection. So recipients of a bone transplant don’t require the immunosuppressive therapy that is associated with other types of transplants.

In fact, patients who have massive bone loss from trauma or bone tumors, who might otherwise face amputation, may have a better option through the use of donated bone. Surgeons, through bone transplantation, can often save a limb and prevent the need for prosthetics.

Tissue donation, including bone, is one of the best ways to help others. So recycle yourself and become an organ donor today. Get started at OrganDonor.gov

If you’re one of the many people who have reservations about becoming a tissue donor, read Organ donation: Don't let these 10 myths confuse you at MayoClinic.com.

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