Urgent - Needing a Stem Cell Match

 If you haven't noticed, this is my second blog on this date.  So please read the first one if you haven't done so already.  

Because Ruth is in MRD (again you'll have to my other blog to know what this means), her timeline for Stem Cell Transplant has moved up.  Her doctor is thinking in a month or two, much of it dependent on logistics.

They looked into her sister, who unfortunately is only a 4 out of 8 HLA match.  The one caveat is that her sister also donated Ruth a kidney back in the early 2000's, so if her sister gave Ruth her stem cells, those stem cells might recognize that kidney and slow/halt the chronic rejection process, and preserve the kidney.

My guess is her doctors are going to move beyond her sister to look for a better match.  Usually, they want at least 7 out of 8, preferably 8 out of 8.  A prelim look at the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry has found quite a few 7 out of 8 matches, so at minimum hopefully one of them screen healthy and be willing to fly into town and donate.  The chance at survival typically is better with an 8 out of 8 match, though we're being told new "conditioning regimen” may make 7 out of 8 close to 8 out of 8 in success.  At least we have a back-up plan (There are people out there who don't have close match and end up dying waiting).  

Still we're asking that everyone who is willing, particularly if Asian, to get their cheeks swabbed in the in the National Registry.  Ruth would love an 8 out of 8 match.  To get checked if you're a match, it is  free on the National Registry (via the Be the Match program), or if you're uncomfortable with a national registry or just want to donate to Ruth (or you're age >40) then you can go with a private stem cell donation site.  Go to SaveRuth.com to get to these websites.  Your stem cells, whether for Ruth or someone else, can save someone's life.

The window to get your cheek swabbed is NOW.  It takes 2-3 weeks for the registry to process from the time they receive the specimen, so we're pushing close to her expected transplant date.  

Ruth will re-share in Facebook soon, this time with a sense of Urgency, needing that perfect match!

In the meantime, we're doing a spring break getway in the Puget Sound area, with a plans for consultation by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer center team in Seattle on Tuesday.  Her OHSU hematologist wants us to have options and to get a second opinion about the process - which we're still hoping to have at home in Portland unless there's a compelling reason to spend 3 months in Seattle.  Ruth is a "complex patient" because of the kidney transplant she has already, and took a hit to the liver the last time she was treated for leukemia, which is part of the reason she never got a stem cell transplant the first time she fought ALL.  The Seattle team took care of her part of the time last time, so knows her medical history and course well.  So we'll see what they think.

Once we get closer to transplant, I'll blog about what Stem cell transplant actually entails.  Yes, I did rotate through the Stem cell transplant unit back in the day as an internal medicine resident and didn't kill anyone.