Bone Marrow Donor Search Update

Stefan went to see the oncologist today. His blood results were stable and in the acceptable range and we are so grateful for this. We also received an update on the bone marrow search. There are three local and several candidates from Germany. All these donors matched the initial HLA markers. The local candidates are all female. Our oncologist explained to us that the success of the transplant is increased if the donor is in the young and the same gender as Stefan. This implies that all the local donors will not be suitable.

At least there are several candidates from Germany that closely meets this criteria. The next step would be to take a blood sample from the donor and perform more extensive tests to see how closely the HLA markers match. Unfortunately each test carries a cost, and this is the reason why only one donor is tested at a time. Each test takes six to eight weeks to complete.

It now becomes a waiting game for us. Hopefully we will have another update in January. We can be very thankful that Stefan's condition is stable at present and that we have time on our side. We pray that it stays this way until we can find the match we are looking for.

Thank you all for your support over this time, we appreciate it.