The testing of donors in Wales is of such high standard that they now form part of a donor network to find bone marrow donors for patients all over the world. This is Wales' Best Kept Secret. Our challenge is to build on this success and to maintain the Registry for future generations. Back to top Bone marrow is where blood cells are formed. There are red cells, with haemoglobin to carry oxygen, white cells, to fight infection and platelets, to help stop bleeding.
Healthy people have an enormous reserve of marrow which is constantly being renewed.
If bone marrow stops making blood cells patients may suffer from anaemia, infections and bleeding, any of which can be fatal. Blood transfusions may be helpful for a time but in severe cases the only hope of a cure is a transplant of healthy bone marrow. In successful cases the transplanted marrow grows in the patient's bone and produces the healthy cells the patient needs. Cancers of the blood, like leukaemia, can not always be cured by treatment with drugs. Sometimes the only hope of a cure is to destroy the patient's diseased bone marrow and replace it with marrow from a healthy person.