Once the decision is made to go to transplant, the doctors determine when they have space for admission. The Unrelated Bone Marrow Coordinator then requests selected dates from the donor. The donor center approaches the donor with the proposed dates. The donor either picks one of those dates or comes back with a date of their own. Once everyone agrees on a date, the Coordinator lets us know and then schedules Hunter for all of his pre-transplant testing. The donor, in the meantime, has their testing done as well. The donors pass with no problems most of the time. There have been donors who did not pass their physical exam and were not able to donate. However, we are in good shape since we have two perfect matches and a backup donor if necessary.
A perfect match is a donor who matches all of the antigens/alleles that they test for. This is based on HLA typing. They test for A, B, C, DRB1 and DQ. Each of those have two sets of antigens and alleles. If those five areas match at both sets, there is a 10/10 match. Even though a donor matches perfectly in those areas, they do not always match in blood type. This does not make a difference for transplant purposes. They often give marrow that does not match in blood type. One of Hunter's donors matches him in blood type and one does not. They have not made their final decision on which donor to use. But again, blood type is not an issue in transplant. Sometimes the best donor is the one that does not match.
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hey sweeties--I thought I'd posted this twice but can't find it--if you see it, disregard. What I wanted you to know is that you are always in our thoughts, hearts and prayers but especially now. I am so sorry about all that you have to deal with, but so grateful and proud that you have the strength, love, and determination to do so...I know you have a long haul ahead but I am completely confident that you'll all come out fine. We love you!
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