Stacy is a young Minnesota mother with myeloma. She has tried just about every treatment, including an autologous transplant, but her aggressive myeloma will not relent. She has a Caring Bridge site.
Stacy's doctors want to do an allogeneic transplant, hoping that stem cells from another person, a donor, will give her a brand new immune system which will view her myeloma cells as invaders and will destroy them. This is called the "graft versus myeloma effect" and can sometimes provide a long-term remission.
So far, though, the doctors have found no matching donor.
The web site www.marrow.org gives guidance for registering, and information about the actual process of donating stem cells.
From the web site, some of the donor requirements:
- Age 18 to 60.
- Good health, including NO CANCER.
According to the web site, the registration procedure involves a swab of cheek cells, to be done at home. Once registered, a person could be "matched" to anyone with a need. If an opportunity to donate is presented, a person can accept or decline it.
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