too fat to help

They have medical guidelines for your own safety. Patients who are very heavy come with their own set of risks during the procedures. You're here, you're obviously doing something about your health, so make it a goal to get to the weight you need to be to donate, if that is something you desire to do. Don't get mad at them because they are looking out for your safety, though-that's just silly.

ETA: No offense, but those guidelines are pretty generous. For my height (5 foot 6), if i recall correctly, the cut off weight is 247 pounds.

Overweight not= Disgusting.

You are a fantastic person with a big heart. Your size has nothing to do with being disgusting, believe me (unless you are eating from a trough with dirty hands or something, that would be disgusting). What you are, what you can say to yourself, is that you are overweight. That is a true statement. It's also a statement you can do something about.

You were more overweight than you are now, but you are working towards a healthier you, and you are making such great progress!!

Keep chipping away at it

:flowerforyou:

A friend of mine posted about an organization called "be the match" it is a bone marrow registry of people who are willing to donate marrow to someone who matches. I was merrily filling out the form, feeling pretty good that I could do something like this when I noticed a tiny detail. In the health section, there was a little link that said donor weight guide. It told me how heavy I could be at my height to donate, and looking at the chart, I am thirty pounds over. I felt slapped in the face. "Sorry, you are too fat to donate"
My Bone marrow isn't fat, it isn't any less helpful, but yet I can't help.
And thanks to that, I feel disgusting.

don't take it personally. It's about insuring the health of the donor if they go through with donation. It's not a simple process and requires anethesia, etc. I can't donate blood (or marrow or organs or anything) because my great uncle MAY have died from Mad Cow disease in the 1960s. It's not about me, it's about what's best for everyone involved.

So we set a new goal: lose the weight to donate. Big heart = my hero! God bless ya kid!

So fat people aren't allowed to donate bone marrow? Well, that explains why they may be having difficulties getting donations. Is there another way you're able to help until you get to their guidelines? I can see why you'd be upset about it. Apparently I'm within the guidelines to donate but I won't because apparently they won't allow gay men to donate, the same reason I don't donate blood. So yeah, apparently they discriminate against fat people and gay people so I wouldn't sweat it.

I think you're over generalizing. It really is based on health issues. It's not discrimination, it's statistics and safety and medicine. People who are significantly overweight often have other health issues. And marrow donation is not a simple, poke a needle in and take some blood. It is a fairly intensive process and has effects on your body that take days or sometimes weeks to recover from.

As far as the gay male thing, there's a much higher rate of infectious disease in US gay male population. Maybe not you specifically but overall. Sorry, but that's the way it is. They have to play the percentages just like any gambler. And if you were the person getting the donation, wouldn't you be betting the percentages?

So fat people aren't allowed to donate bone marrow? Well, that explains why they may be having difficulties getting donations. Is there another way you're able to help until you get to their guidelines? I can see why you'd be upset about it. Apparently I'm within the guidelines to donate but I won't because apparently they won't allow gay men to donate, the same reason I don't donate blood. So yeah, apparently they discriminate against fat people and gay people so I wouldn't sweat it.

I think you're over generalizing. It really is based on health issues. It's not discrimination, it's statistics and safety and medicine. People who are significantly overweight often have other health issues. And marrow donation is not a simple, poke a needle in and take some blood. It is a fairly intensive process and has effects on your body that take days or sometimes weeks to recover from.

As far as the gay male thing, there's a much higher rate of infectious disease in US gay male population. Maybe not you specifically but overall. Sorry, but that's the way it is. They have to play the percentages just like any gambler. And if you were the person getting the donation, wouldn't you be betting the percentages?

I'm not a gay male. I'm a heterosexual female, I'm just against discrimination of any sort. I dunno about you but when I went to college, it was the heterosexual people getting more STDs and were much unhealthier than the gay people were. It's just a negative stereotype people came up with to discriminate against those different than them. Sorry if "gay blood" isn't good enough to save lives.

I went to college as well. And my personal experiences don't necessarily match overalls statistics. Overall, gays have higher rates of infectious diseases based on percentages. It's not a negative stereotype, it's a fact based on the ratesof infection. Are you really trying to say that heterosexual males are more likely to have AIDS or HepC than gay males???

Do I care whether the blood I get is from a gay or straight person? Nope, not a bit. But I care that it comes from somebody who is not highly likely to have Hep C. You realize a large percentage of health care professionals are not allowed to give blood as they've been exposed (not contracted) various things like TB, Hep C, etc? Is that discriminating against health care pros? No, it's doing something that is going to help lower the risks of people with infections donating bad blood. Same reason people with a history of cancer can't donate.