Skip to content
Jada Bascom Foundation
Donate to JBF
Checked , see sources

CANADA · CANADIAN BLOOD SERVICES

Joining a stem cell donor registry from Canada

For people who live in Canada. Live somewhere else? Find your country.

2 registries sign up people who live in Canada. You only need to join one. Here’s who can join, how it works and what happens after.

You can join hereChecked , see sources

You can join here, through Canadian Blood Services.

Choose where you live, The ways to join, on this pageWhat happens after you join, From your sample to a possible call

Browsing from another country? See how joining works where you live.

Ways to join

Where you live in Canada decides which registry signs you up. Each one says who it’s for.

Who can join

These are Canadian Blood Services’s rules, in short. Its own pages have the full list, and the registry decides.

Where you live
Canada. Where you live there decides which registry signs you up.
Age to join
17 to 35
How long you stay on the registry
Until your 60th birthday, unless you ask to leave.
Your health
Most healthy adults can join. Some conditions rule it out. Read the registry’s health rules (opens in a new tab)
Joining, staying on the registry and being able to donate are different ages.

What happens after you join

From your sample to a possible call. Each registry runs its own process; these are the steps they share.

  1. Check you can join.

    Canadian Blood Services sets its own age range and health rules. Its own pages have them.

  2. Give a sample.

    The registry takes a sample to record your tissue type. Its own pages say how.

  3. You’re on the registry.

    Your tissue type is recorded, so searches for patients can find you.

  4. If you match a patient.

    The registry contacts you, checks you’re still willing and well, and arranges more tests.

  5. Donation.

    If you go ahead, you’ll donate blood stem cells or bone marrow. The registry explains what’s involved and supports you through it.

Keep your contact details up to date so the registry can reach you. What donating is like

Questions

Can I join if I’m not a citizen?

Registries usually decide by where you live, not by nationality. Canadian Blood Services’s own rules say who can join.

I’m already on another country’s registry. Do I join again?

Registries share their lists with searches around the world, so ask your registry before you join a second one.

Is giving blood the same as joining?

Giving blood helps patients who need transfusions. It doesn’t put you on a stem cell donor registry unless that registry says it does.

Who is the Jada Bascom Foundation?

We’re a US charity. We don’t run a registry, and we aren’t part of Canadian Blood Services. We help people find the official registry where they live.

Live somewhere else?

Registries usually sign up people by where they live, not by nationality.

Learn more

BE SOMEONE’S TORSTEN

The same search found Jada’s donor in Germany.

Jada was a baby in Spokane, Washington, when doctors found she had acute myeloid leukemia. Her match was a stranger five thousand miles away: Torsten, who had joined the DKMS registry at a donor drive in Germany the year before she was born. If you live in Canada, your place in that search starts with Canadian Blood Services.

Join through Canadian Blood Services, Opens Canadian Blood Services’s own site in a new tab
Download the card

CHECKED BEFORE IT WAS PUBLISHED

Sources

The registries’ own pages

  1. Canadian Blood Services. Stem cell donation eligibility and registration | Blood.ca (opens in a new tab). Undated.Checked
  2. Canadian Blood Services. Join our stem cell registry | Canadian Blood Services (opens in a new tab). Undated.Checked
  3. Canadian Blood Services. About us at Canadian Blood Services (opens in a new tab). Undated.Checked

Government and official registers

  1. Jada Bascom Foundation. About us: Jada’s story. Undated.Checked

Map outlines: Natural Earth. Boundaries are for orientation only and imply no position on any dispute.

Data version hub-2026.10.15-1+68cdf352

Written and source-checked by the Jada Bascom Foundation.

Last checked Next check due

What we do and what we don’t. The Jada Bascom Foundation is a charity in the United States. We don’t run a registry, and we aren’t part of Canadian Blood Services. We explain how joining works and link to the registry’s own site. We can’t see whether you sign up, and we never receive anything you give the registry.

Something wrong or out of date? Tell us, with this page’s title and what looks wrong. Our contact form doesn’t accept web addresses, so the title is enough. Tell us

Joining a registry is separate from giving money to JBF. Support this work