What happens if there is a match between your stem cells and those of a patient? In this case, we contact you immediately. We check whether you are still willing to donate and then support you up until the donation. We also check up on you afterwards.
We contact you and ask you if you still want to be a donor.
We take some blood as a final check. If everything is okay, then we make an appointment for the stem cell donation and start the preparation.
At least three weeks before your stem cells are taken, we perform a full medical examination, with an X-ray of your lungs among other things.
You receive two injections of growth factors every day for the last five days before the procedure so that your stem cells can be harvested from your blood. Donors can normally tolerate the injections but occasionally they may experience flu-like symptoms.
The donation procedure takes place in hospital. We take blood from a vein, remove the stem cells and then reinject the blood into your body via another vein. It does not hurt. The whole procedure takes about four hours.
Next, your stem cells are administered to the patient, who can then be saved.
We perform medical check-ups one week, one month, one year and five years after the donation to ensure that you are in good physical health.
