|  | If your blood cancer proves difficult to cure using chemotherapy you will need to consider having a stem cell transplant. You will be able to ask your care team as many questions as you like, they know how difficult it can be to make this decision.
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But here’s the good news; as a young person you are in the group of adults best prepared to cope with a stem cell transplant. Stem cells are the primitive blood forming cells in the bone marrow. Sometimes these cells are collected from bone marrow; this is called a bone marrow transplant. Now it is more usual to stimulate stem cell release into the blood and harvest them from there; this is a peripheral blood stem cell transplant. |
Allogeneic transplants are better at eliminating leukaemia but carry additional risk of a condition called Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD). These risks may be higher in those who receive transplants from an unrelated donor. GvHD isn’t all bad news; a little can be a good thing. This is because it comes hand in hand with the Graft versus Leukaemia (GvL) effect. This is where the donor cells attack any leukaemia cells that have survived the intensive treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This gives you an even better chance of beating blood cancer.
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| | There are two types of stem cell transplant:
Allogeneic- Stem cells from a relative (preferably your brother or sister) or an unrelated donor from a volunteer database with the same tissue type are administered after intensive chemotherapy and/or total body irradiation.
Autologous- your own stem cells are harvested and stored before intensive chemotherapy and/or total body irradiation is given. The stem cells are then returned to the body.
For more information try reading
Do you know anyone who is interested in donating stem cells? They may want to read
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