MDS - No siblings - Bone marrow needed - How?
 

Hello!


My husband is diagnosed with MDS.
He is 44 years old and is being referred to a bone marrow transplant.

He had no siblings.
Beings so, what are the odds of finding a match doner. What is a match donor?

What about cord cells from a child? - I'm 43 and I still think we could try to have a child...

Your answers will be treasures for us.

I think the typical chances of finding a matched unrelated donor is about 35%, less if you are of a non-white background. The donor pool grows daily so don't fret if you don't find a match right away - I am asian and initially there were no matches then about 5-months after the initial search two 9/10 matches came up (still undecided and holding out for a perfect 10). Good luck to your family, it is scary at first but you kind of just get used to dealing with all this. Also, make sure you are at a hospital where they could initiate a database search and have a knowledgeable bone marrow transplant co-ordinator.

Hang in there,

Michelle