Donor Update – 2/2/10

Email excerpt from my Bone Marrow Donor Coordinator:

Hello,
I emailed the information below to [Kurt’s doctors]; I am still hoping to find another match– but as of date we only have one.

Kurt Brindley MR # X-XXX-XX-XX:
has 2 haplo* sisters, 1 disparate** sister, 2 MUD [Matched Unrelated Donors] Mis- Matches and 1 MUD Match.

Sincerely,
[Bone Marrow Donor Coordinator]

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* When trying to match a sibling, a haplo match essentially means that she has only one of the tissue types contributed by either the mother or father. A haplo match is a half-match, so to speak, and may be used in a transplant if a full match cannot be found.

** When trying to match a sibling, a disparate match has neither of the tissue types contributed by either the mother or father. A disparate match cannot be used for a transplant.

The underlines for emphasis are mine.

Visit www.marrow.org for more information about the Bone Marrow Donor program.

Donor Update – 1/20/10

Email excerpt from my Bone Marrow Donor Coordinator:

When dealing with national and international registries it takes a long time compared to family members who arrive ASAP.

World Wide I only found 8 potential matches; of samples we requested we only received 2 of them this week; they are in typing now. I do not know when the others will arrive or if they are available; we have not heard anything from the other 6.

In a perfect world I will have 3 matches but we will not know until the Class II and High Resolution typing is complete if they match. If I find 3 matches I will put them on hold.

Donor Update – 1/11/10

Email excerpt from my Bone Marrow Donor Coordinator:

I have found potential MUD [Matched Unrelated Donor] donors but I just requested the samples to be sent here for testing to see if they are fully matched. The samples are kept in the individual registry repository I do not have any planned arrival dates from the samples that are requested at this time. Once the sample arrives it can take 10-14 days before we know if it is a match.

The underlines for emphasis are mine. Updates will follow as they are received.