Has anyone experience of donating bone marrow?

[franke]

dh has just received "the call" as a possible match for someone after joining the register (here in Germany) about 15 years ago.

He's going to follow it up of course, but I would like to hear experiences of people who have been through the process. tia.

oh wow franke. No experience but good luck to him.

I don't have experience but can I just say that my brother suffered from leukaemia and relied on good, good people like your dh to donate their bone marrow. Sadly he didn't survive but I know that others he shared a ward with did as a result of bone marrow donations and that's something that gives enormous hope to everyone who needs the help of a register like this one.

I'm sure that those who run the register could give your dh more info about the process. And, of course, he must remember that it is entirely his choice about whether he goes through with this or not. That's only a decision that he can make so please send him my best wishes for the weeks ahead.

Oh, look, I'm babbling. I guess I just wanted to explain that it's people like your dh that gave hope to my brother, myself and our entire family and while things didn't turn out as we'd hoped we'll never stop being grateful to those who try to help. I guess 'thank you' are the only words that cover it.

Sx

Thanks for the replies. Scampy, thanks for sharing and I'm so sorry a donor wasn't found in time for your brother. From that point of view, of course, the whole issue is a no brainer and precisely why dh is on the register.

However I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all concerned about him undergoing a procedure which involved a gen. anaesthetic, although there is a new process which involves filtering stem cells directly from circulating blood and involves no GA. I just need reassurance I guess from people who've been through it.

Not been through it but DH1 had (and died from) NHL, he was due to have a BM transplant from his brother. They seem to prefer the stem cell method these days (which his brother would have done) which is much less intrusive. That said it is a fairly minor procedure and your DH should be back on his feet within the week easily.

Thanks again and makammm - I'm so sorry about your dh1. You're right about the preference for the non-invasive method btw. I found a good article on the CNN site of all places which laid out all the risks very clearly i.e. virtually none for the non-invasive method.

So that's all settled in my own mind now . Still, there's only about a 10% chance that dh will be a perfect match at this stage, but fingers crossed.

Hi, I've donated my BM in 1994 to an unrelated donor via the Anthony Nolan BM Trust.

They treated me like royalty - couldn't have been nicer.

I have to admit I found it very hard not knowing anything about the recipient (I was told he's 35, male with a young family but that was it) and VERY hard when he died (unrelated to his disease) but they do provide a liason officer who kept in touch with me. I was allowed to send a card via the Anthony Nolan people to his wife and I received a card back from his consultant. They are very strict on the confidentiality bit - as you would expect.

With regards to the procedure, I only done it cos I had a GA - too much of a baby not to! And it was fine. Work paid me sick leave and I was in Royal Free for 3 days and at home for the rest of the week.

I would do it again at the drop of a hat....

If you wasnt any more info, please let me know

"want" any more info

sorry

Getting called up is no guarantee that there will be a match and he will have to donate. DH has been contacted twice and had the all the blood tests, but each time he was close but not close enough I've been on there as long as DH (we joined up when DHs cousin had adult leukemia about 15 years ago) and never been called.

Thanks again for the messages. Charlie thanks for your story. Good on you for getting through it - ga is nothing to be lighthearted about - I'm relieved dh probably won't have to go that route if it comes to it.

Serenity - I know, I think the statistic is about 1:10 are good matches at this stage. Having read the replies here and looked into the process in a bit more detail, fingers crossed that dh will be a good match for someone