During a blood drive, donors can watch their donations from vein to cooler, but a bone marrow drive is just the first step in the donating process.

“There are a lot of misconceptions that they actually take the bone marrow from you at the drive,” said Katherine Wiegert, senior in biology.

The Golden Key International Honour Society, in collaboration with the Iowa Marrow Donor Program, is sponsoring a bone marrow donor drive Tuesday. Wiegert is the community service chair for Golden Key.

At the drive, donors are asked to sign a consent form and then give a small sample of blood, said Debra Hoyle, membership coordinator of the Iowa Marrow Donor Program. The blood is then tested for tissue type and the donor’s name is added to the National Bone Marrow Registry.

The registry is then constantly searched by doctors and patients who need a stem cell or bone marrow transplant, Hoyle said. If they find a match, the person is called and asked to donate, which is very rare.

“The total chance of actually being called is less than 2 percent,” Hoyle said. “However, when it comes to Iowa, the chances are not necessarily high, but between 20 to 35 people are identified to donate a year.”

More than 100 transplants are done every year at the transplant center in Iowa, she said.

Donors are kept on the registry until age 61, or when health changes make them unable to donate, Hoyle said.

Hoyle said most people don’t know that many patients cannot find a match in their family, making the registry very important. She also said there is a real need for minorities to join the registry.

“We have millions that are identified as Caucasians, but less than 500,000 for other races; at this point of time people who are a minority have a much more difficult time finding a match because the numbers aren’t there,” Hoyle said.

She said there are two reasons the registry is very important

“When it comes to marrow or blood stem cells, we don’t have the ability to create those in a lab for use, so we need someone who is living to say they are willing to do this and to help someone else,” Hoyle said.

“Another reason it’s so important is because people who find out they need a transplant, they know that their only chance at life is a transplant. They give people hope, and when they donate they will potentially be giving them life.”

Nathan Zoromski, senior in finance, will donate marrow in March.

Zoromski went to a bone marrow donor drive at Iowa State a few years ago.

“I’d given blood at all the blood drives and this was the next step further,” he said.

Zoromski said he was excited about donating.

“It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a difference in someone’s life,” he said. “It isn’t that big of a risk to yourself.”

The bone marrow donor drive runs from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.