bone marrow transplants/donors?

[Oriole]

I just registered this week to be on a bone marrow donor list, but I'm terrified of needles.

Can someone tell me if they've been through this procedure? I'm so torn between hoping that I can help someone and being scared to actually have to go through it. If you, or someone you know has donated or received bone marrow, can you tell me your story, please?

[34me]

A friend of ours donated for an unknown 17 yo boy with leukemia last winter. He was on immune/cell boosting drugs for 10 days beforehand maybe that gave him flu like symptoms. He looked and felt horrible for that time but when they harvested the bone marrow he was able to go off of them and immediately started to feel better (ooh just remembered they were shots). He was sore for a few days after harvest but when all was said and done it was 3 weeks of feeling kind of crummy to potentially save someones life.