Author: SengkangBabies

I am a Blogging Daddy of four. Our kids are roaming Singapore to bring you FUN, This blog is use to capture our kids' growing up phases, and we want you to leave our blog with a smile :)

What is Bone Marrow transplant? BMDP

This story will share my bone marrow donor experience through BMDP.

If you browse through the obituaries, you will quickly realised that people who have passed on, are not necessary Old folks. When we are young and healthy, we tend not to think about illness, suffering or death.

Unfortunately, Cancer and diseases do not discriminate between young and old, the rich or poor. As a parent, we do not wish to see any child sick.

You might have spotted us on Straits Time and 联合早报 Wednesday (27Feb2013). Daddy was helping BMDP (Bone Marrow Donor Programme) to spread awareness about Bone Marrow transplant (骨髓移植).

Ten years ago (before SengkangBabies arrive), Daddy faced a lot of questions and uncertainties. With Mummy’s support, and a wish to do good (做好人), Daddy went ahead to donate his Bone Marrow.

** What Daddy can do today is to share his experience, spread more awareness and encourage more to be donors or volunteers.

The Questions

BMDP’s FAQ page will answer some of our doubts or even clear some myths.
1. What is Bone Marrow?
2. Why do we need to talk about Bone Marrow Transplant?
3. Is it safe to donate your Bone Marrow? Any side effects?
4. How is Bone Marrow extracted ?
5. How long does it take to recover?

More processes can be found at BMDP website. For example :
– what happens after you register?
– how is a Donor selected and how are the tissues matched ?
– how does Transplant requests reach BMDP?

Some traditional folks believe vitality might diminished after Bone marrow extraction.
Daddy went on to have four healthy kids after his donation 🙂

Video : BMDP is giving Hope, creating Miracles

The Numbers

Every day – 6 patients are diagnosed with blood-related diseases
Every Month – 30 requests to find matching Donors
Every Year – 50 Bone Marrow related operations in Singapore

Odds of being the chosen donor – 1 in 20,000
Within the family – 1 in 4

With a larger donor base, the probability of finding a match is higher.
BMDP is targeting 20,000 more donors over next three years.

It costs $150 to tissue-match each new donor.
How much do we need to register 20,000 new donors !

Save life, give Hope, giving back to society, do Good.
Whatever the reasons, all of us have the capacity to HELP.

How can we Help?

Be a Donor, or help as a volunteer during recruitment drives.
Your monetary donations will help to fund new donor’s tissue matching expenses.

BMDP’s contacts :
Email – admin@bmdp.org
Web – http://www.bmdp.org
Fanpage – http://www.facebook.com/bmdp.sg?fref=ts
Phone – 6327 1344


With Jane Prior, BMDP’s president. To quote Jane “BMDP is in the business of Miracles”.

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Through his actions, Daddy hopes to inspire the kids to do Good and contribute back to society too. Help SengkangBabies spread Bone marrow transplant (骨髓移植) awareness. Bring more HOPE to someone today.

a) You can read about Daddy’s 2002 experience here.

b) For those interested, do a image.google.com (search Bone Marrow) and you will have an idea of how Bone Marrow can be extracted. The pictures might make some uncomfortable, and please ignore the soup-tulong images :p

c) Did you know that a newborn’s umbilical cord contains rich Stem cells? If you are not banking the baby’s stem cells with a private institution, do consider
Singapore Cord Blood Bank (Public Cord Blood bank).

Safra is giving NSmen angpows

Our four kids are eager to sign-on with Singapore Army, Navy, or Air Force. They have heard from Daddy that some NSmen (and NSwomen) are entitled to one year Free membership and up to $100 worth of Safra vouchers !

To celebrate NS45 (National Service 45 years anniversary), and to recognise NSmen’s sacrifices, this is Safra’s one-time Ang Pow !

Fortunately, our kids do not need to enlist for National Service at such a tender age. Safra membership is only $20 per year for the whole family !

We start exploring all the family activities that we can enjoy at all five Safra clubhouses (Jurong, Mount Faber, Tampines, Toa Payoh and Yishun). We hope there will be a Safra clubhouse nearer to SengkangBabies, maybe Sengkang or Punggol soon.

1) Remember this fish tank at Safra Toa Payoh? This pool (which resembles the Naval divers’ but without drown-proofing) should proof to be a hit with the kids. The key word is see-through.

Kidz Amaze should well, Amaze the kids 🙂 . We love climbing Jurong’s obstacles and kids should love Toa Payoh’s too.

2) Safra’s interest groups should appeal to Daddy.

For the car enthusiasts, read Defensive driving skills, and evasive skills like Handbrake turn or Reverse flick. Daddy did some donuts with our Stream quite sometime back, and it would be fun to try the stunts tricks again.

..and Daddy just found out about the photography interest group too.

3) Mummy will not be left out, Safra Jurong and Mount Faber are ready to invigorate and pamper Mummy to some relaxing massage sessions. Kids are asking about the Stones ?? (refer picture below)

4) We suspect everyone will be tired and hungry after our activities, we are spoil for choices at Safra! Check out Safra’s F&B outlets across the Island.

Maybe Daddy can mobilise some kakis (buddies) to talk about our Bitter and Sweet experiences again. The buddies we friend from BMT till ORD are likely to stay with us for life. Since Daddy’s MR in 2009, there is lesser opportunity to catch up his Band of Brothers 🙂

Back to our pool, Boon Kang is already gearing up for the next recall to Toa Payoh Safra 🙂

The last day to register for the free vouchers is Feb 28th 2014 ! (So generous).
In four easy steps, Safra activities are waiting to bond families and buddies.

Thank you Safra, in Army slang, ORD lor 🙂

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First started by Dr Goh Keng Swee in 1972, Safra has grown over the decades.
More information about Safra can be found at http://www.safra.sg and wiki.

–> Click for NS45 (National Service) benefits

Image credit – the Massage photos above are taken from Safra.sg