Bone Marrow.Caution.

Bone marrow where blood begins life .



Bone marrow is the soft, jelly-like tissue that is found in the hollow centres of certain bones. It's the home of what are called 'stem cells' which are the building blocks of blood itself. These building blocks are: the red cells - which carry oxygen; the white cells - which fight infection, and the platelets - which stop bleeding. All these cells are produced by the stem cells and released into the blood stream via the veins and thin tissue surrounding the bone.



Without the bone marrow, blood can not be produced, so when things go wrong and the bone marrow becomes damaged, the patient must receive a stem cell transplant to survive.




Why do we need donors?

Bone marrow or stem cell transplants are necessary when the bone marrow becomes diseased or damaged so that it can't function normally.


Sometimes the damage to the bone marrow is a result of treatment for leukaemia or a related cancer of the blood. In order to destroy all the leukaemia cells it may be necessary to use treatment so strong that it completely destroys the bone marrow, in which case a bone-marrow or stem cell transplant must be given to restore blood cell production.



Without the stem cells to produce blood the patient will not survive. So you can see, when we say 'bone marrow saves lives' we really mean it.




Where do donors come from?



Sometimes an appropriate donor can be found within the patient's immediate family as it is more likely that their 'tissue type' will match. However, only 30% of donors are found this way, and this is when we rely on the British Bone Marrow Registry to find another suitable donor. And this is the reason we really need people like you who are prepared to help save a life.



It is your genes that determine your tissue type. But there are other factors that determine the probability of finding a compatible tissue typed donor for a patient. Some tissue types are more common in particular ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, in addition to matching a donor and patient's tissue type it's also important to match the ethnic background. By doing this, the transplant has a better chance of being successful.



BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT