Found a Donor

Another donor has been found.  My second transplant was put on hold due to some sort of change from the first donor.  He/she backed out or was found unsuitable after further testing.  Now, another donor has been found and a schedule is in place.  I should receive their stem cells on October 22nd.

Before I receive the new stem cells, there will be a handful of tests and conditioning appointments.  The medical team will further suppress my already weak immune system through chemotherapy and full body radiation.  They do this so my own immune system will not resist the new stem cells.  After time, they will slowly allow my immune system to gain strength, depending on the reaction to the new cells.

The good news is the new donor is a perfect match and I have lots of other potential perfect matches if this one backs out.  In fact, the medical team was amazed that I have hundreds of perfect matches.  Initially, they said there was only an 80% chance of finding a single match.  They didn’t know there would be an entire community with my exact genetic markers.  I still don’t know anything about the donor.  They could be male or female from anywhere in the world.  But the chances are it’s a young male from central or northern Europe.  They look for young males first and Europe has many more registered donors than the U.S.

Eventually, I’ll have a decision to make.  After one year, I can send a message to the donor, asking him/her if they would like to be contacted.  If they agree, I will receive their contact information.  A simple thank you would be the least I could do.  Donors receive nothing for spending a day in the hospital.  They simply agree to help a random person somewhere in the world.  If they are from Europe, they don’t pay anything but if they are from the U.S. it actually costs the donor to sign up for the registry.  For now, I’ll focus on getting healthy.  A decision about contacting my donor can and must wait for a later date.