At the same time
[object Object] 13
At the same time
Nia is 13
The doctors need to find a donor. They test Nia’s brother to see if he is a full match.
Your doctors will look for a full match donor.
If you have any full siblings, doctors will test them.
- Full siblings have the same biological mother and father.
- A sibling can be a donor even if they carry the sickle cell trait gene, but not if they have sickle cell disease.
- It can take a few weeks to get the test results.
Fully matched bone marrow transplant
- This is the current standard treatment.
- It was first used to cure a girl with sickle cell disease in 1983.
- Full match means the donor’s cells have the same HLA type as your cells.
- Doctors understand it very well. They know what problems to look for and how to treat those problems.
There are different types of donors:
Full match, sibling
- Full siblings have the same biological mother and biological father.
Full match, unrelated
- Someone who volunteered in the bone marrow registry.
- People with African ancestry have about a 20% chance of finding a full match donor in the bone marrow registry. This is because fewer people with this background are in the registry and their HLA is more diverse.
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) is on the surface of cells in your body.
- All the cells in your body have the same HLA type.
- Your HLA type is different from most other people.
- Your body will attack cells from someone with a different HLA type.
- This is why doctors are looking for someone with a matching HLA type.