Stem Cell Donation

For some cancer patients and patients with other conditions, a stem cell transplant is sometimes the missing piece needed to cure or at least control the condition. After meeting some families of children who need stem cell transplants to survive, I decided to become a peripheral stem cell donor.

When I first made the phone call to become a stem cell donor, I was a bit nervous. I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there wasn't much to do to become a donor.

I had to go to a donor center to answer a series of questions about my medical history. Once it was determined that I didn't have any contraindications for donation, I had to have a blood test done to determine my human leukocyte antigen, or HLA. This is the factor that doctors look at to determine if a donor and recipient may be a good match.

The entire process was easy. Now, I get to sit and wait on a call that my stem cells are needed. Some donors are contacted quickly, while others are never contacted. As of right now, I am inactive on the list because I am pregnant. Once I have the baby, I will call and get my name reactivated.

Should the time ever come when I am needed for stem cells, I will have to have some more tests done to dig deeper into whether or not I am suitable match for the recipient. If I am, I will be placed on a four day series of shots to help my body produce more bone marrow. The shots will continue throughout the donation process.

Donation will take approximately six hours per session. A machine will remove blood from my body, filter out the stem cells and return the remaining blood to me. I will go through two to four (or possibly more) donation sessions. The exact number depends on the amount of stem cells the recipient needs.

I am told the actual donation process is similar to donating plasma, which is fine with me because I donated plasma for a while before I had my now 3-year old son.

Conclusion

There are many people in the world who need stem cell transplants to survive. In my opinion, the time I have already spent and will have to spend if I am selected as a donor are a small price to pay to save someone's life.