Timeline for Stem Cell Transplant

[Data]

My doctors making preparations for a stem cell transplant for me. On Dec 2, 2015 the stem cell transplant coordinator told me I had "lots of matches out there. We are requesting the confirmatory typing today on several donors." I know I have three days of tests to make sure I am healthy enough for the transplant and will have to see my doctor one more time before being admitted. What I was wondering was how fast this process works. I know it is the holidays and things probably grind to a halt but can some of you share we me how your timeline went once they started looking for donors and found one. Obviously I am just looking for a rough idea - not exact time frames.

Thanks in advance


Data

[Neil Cuadra]

Data,

Once a donor is identified, they must be contacted, they must agree to be tested, they must schedule and pass the tests, then agree again to donate. My wife's donor had moved to another state since signing up for the donor registry, so we were lucky that the National Marrow Donor Program reached relatives who could provide the new contact information.

Assuming you've passed your own tests, they can schedule the donation and transplant at almost any time. Our doctor said "the sooner the better" and we had no other delays.

Although they may have identified many potential donors for you, that doesn't mean that they'll all be asked, and that the first one that comes through the process will be your donor. I suspect that they contact them serially, or only a couple at a time, due to the overhead and the cost of testing. They'd start with potential donors that have the best HLA match, and perhaps select them by other factors like age and male vs. female-with-no-children vs. female-with-children.

Getting in touch with potential donors may be harder during the holidays, when so many families travel, but if I heard that somebody's life depended on me being available, I'd be there in a minute. I would never say "I'm busy - can it wait a month?" I hope other people wouldn't either.

It's great to have many potential donors, but there's only one of you, so I really hope you are found to have "all systems go".

[bailie]

That is great that there are "lots of donors". I had one match out of the 23 million (approx.) on the donor list. It went relatively quickly for me, about a month. My match was a 20 yr. old male from Germany.

[vickij]

It is great that you have many matches. I think I only had 1 match. he was a 10/10 match, European male was all I was told. I don't know if he was only one or if they stop looking after they find one that will donate. They didn't give me much info on him. I was just so happy that they found a match so soon. It didn't take long after he agreed to donate, he had tests and I had tests. I think it only took about 4-6 weeks. Best of luck to you.

[rar]

I had 3 matches out of 6 siblings. I was 5 months from diagnosis to transplant. It was 2 months from diagnosis to getting me on a clinical trial, another 2 months on the trial that reduced blasts from 11% to 2%. It was a couple weeks from choosing donor to transplant. Everything went smoothly. If you have speed bumps it will be slower.

[Data]

Thanks for the replies. I am just inpatient to get this process started.

Thanks again for all your comments.

Best wishes to all of you in your individual journeys!!

Data