re: Any OTers here ever donated bone marrow? I got the call yesterday.

subtle brag just shut your pie hole and go donate

My sister-in-law matched with a teenage girl in Illinois about 10 years ago. It saved the girls life. You have to wait a certain length of time before you can find out whom the recipient was. After the time was up, the girl’s family contacted her. The girl went from only months to live to now being married and living a great life. The girl and her family traveled to Louisiana to meet our family and my brother and sister-in-law have been to visit them. It’s been a really amazing story of complete strangers matching.

Just signed up

I'm kind of surprised this many on here have stepped up. Proud of each of you. Makes me think there are still some decent people left on this shitty planet

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LSUJML

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I appreciate your post. Exactly what I was interested in. The person from the registry that called me was also a donor. I think I was too in shock (in a good way) to really comprehend the conversation that was taking place.

I am ok with whichever method they need to do. The bone pain thing weirds me out a little bit. Overall, I’m ok with needles and pain tolerance. Did you have any anxiety during the waiting period up to the procedure and afterward with regards to whether you would be a match after the additional tests and if the patient’s diagnosis would improve after receiving the transplant?

It caught me by surprise when they called me too.
They are great people & are there for any questions you have, as you think of things write them down so you remember to ask
The donation guide is really specific & lays everything out very well

I’ve had several knee surgeries growing up so I wasn’t worried about the pain or the procedure
I wouldn’t say I had anxiety maybe just nervous curiosity as to what would happen
Once the start drawing stem cells they take a sample & send it somewhere local
that does a count of cells, they then let the donation center know & from that they figure how much to take
How much they need to take is based on your patient

When you are cleared after the physical they get serious about moving forward
Once you start the shots the patient starts (chemo ?) to destroy their immune system so it doesn’t fight the transplanted cells (I hope I’m not screwing its up)
They told me once I decided to move forward I needed to do so, backing out at that point would kill the patient
I worried about what would happen if I got in a wreck the week before the procedure

I don’t want to sound like an arse but it wasn’t a big deal
Someone needed help & I was able to provide it
I wasn’t put out anything, took 2 paid days from work & a couple of meals I didn’t seek reimbursement on
I told 2 people from work the Friday before the procedure & a couple of friends knew

I am hoping to get another update on my patient this month or next, they usually come every 6 months
There is a sense of relief when you get the call that they are still alive

What is it that the patient does to prepare for the transplant?
I can’t remember what they told me but remember them making clear it wouldn’t be good if I backed out last minute

Here are my stem cells

Sounds painful and sore afterwards

They do preparative chemo...but not until cells are in hand. That being said, they’ve done a bunch of chemo leading up to transplant to try to go into the transplant in remission with goal of transplant to obliterate any bad cells remaining with high dose chemo which also wipes out all of their good marrow. Then your cells get infused and know how to find their bone marrow to set up shop and start producing blood. The reason a match is so important is the transplanted stem cells become a new immune system for the recipient and if not matched well enough to them the new immune system attacks their solid organs resulting in GVHD or graft versus host disease.

A little bit of GVHD tends to keep leukemia away. A lot leads to pain and suffering and sometimes death. Transplant is an aggressive therapy. It really is high doses of chemo to destroy the recipient’s marrow and then a rescue from a donor of allogeneic or themselves if autologous.