Even relatives wanting to donate marrow find they are unable because the match isn t close enough. That s the case with Ms. Gangloff. If you re injecting someone else s immune system into you, it better match because the recipient will lose the fight if it doesn t, Dr. Lutz said. On Saturday, potential donors will complete an application and consent form before having a blood sample drawn by an American Red Cross worker. Once a match is found, donating is much harder on the recipient than the donor, Dr. Lutz said.
Donors are under anesthesia while doctors use needles to penetrate the bone and withdraw the marrow.
The end result is they end up with about a liter of marrow and, You ll end up feeling like you ve been playing football for 10 hours with no pads on. That s it and the pain will be gone in about five days, he said. Recipients, on the other hand, undergo lethal doses of chemotherapy to kill off the bad bone marrow, making room for the transplant. The hopes are that the new marrow will regenerate blood free of leukemia and the patient will then be cured. But oftentimes, the cure winds up being worse than the disease.