On Bone Marrow Transplants and Donors

Filed in archive Cancer , Cases on May 27, 2008

Remember that episode in the season 3 of Grey's Anatomy when Izzie had to donate bone marrow for her biological daughter?

Somewhat the procedure was shown. But more importantly, it was insinuated how matching donors to recipients is crucial.

Marijke (blogger at Help My Hurt) has a very good, thorough explanation on the topic of bone marrow transplants and what it takes to become a donor.

Her post, has a link to somebody - Emru - who is looking for a bone marrow donor to match him. In his blog - Heal Emru - includes a campaign to register in your country's bone marrow registry.

Emru needs a bone marrow transplant. This kind of therapy is administered through a transplant of bone marrow stem cells from a matching donor. The highest chances for a match are from siblings, but his only sister is not a match. As a result, he must to turn to national and international bone marrow registries to find a compatible donor.

There are 11 million donors worldwide, but there is still no guarantee that he will find a match: The chances of matching another person can be as high 1 in 450 or lower than 1 in 750,000. Time is of the essence as the optimal window of opportunity is in the first few months after remission.

Would you like to help?

[In Photo: Bone Marrow Transplants: A Guide for Cancer Patients and Their Families (Hardcover)by Marianne Shaffer]