Match Maykin

If you have been following my journey you will know that I am currently not a candidate for a bone marrow transplant because I have a "favorable" Leukemia type - Subtype M2 with a 8:21 translocation. (The word "favorable" never sounds right to me...how can any cancer be favorable??? :P) The Stanford University bone marrow transplant doctor said that I have a 50% chance that I will be cured with chemotherapy alone. The doctors say that 50% cure rate is pretty good.

Since I am not a candidate for a BMT the only way I can see if I have a match is to use a tool on the National Marrow Donor Program website to do a preliminary search. It is not the most accurate information, but it gives patients a good idea of what's currently in the database. Normally doctors will look at 10 HLA markers, but the website only searches 6 markers. (The more markers that match, the less likely your body will reject the transplant.)

Here are my results for today:

NMDP Registry Potential Adult Donors:

* Potential matches at 6 of 6 HLA markers: 0
* Potential matches at 5 of 6 HLA markers: 497

NMDP Registry Potential Cord Blood Units:

* Potential matches at 6 of 6 HLA markers: 0
* Potential matches at 5 of 6 HLA markers: 5
* Potential matches at 4 of 6 HLA markers: 169

As you can see, I don't have an exact match on the US registry. However, when I started using this tool, I only had 460 matches with 5 of 6 markers.....so it's nice to see that the database has gotten bigger and now there are 497 people that match 5 out of 6 markers. (Some patients will get a transplant from a 5 of 6 match when the doctors are desperate and there is not much time left). The cord blood registry is made up of people who have donated their babies umbilical cord blood. There are stem cells in the cord that is normally discarded after the delivery. Many patients who do not have a donor match will get a transplant using umbilical cord.

Pretty interesting stuff huh? I can't imagine what it will be like when I do a search and see that I have a 6 of 6 potential match. Can't wait for the day. Cross your fingers!