bone marrow

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Bone Marrow – why you should consider becoming a bone marrow donor!


Signing up to become a bone marrow donor can make a difference for someone’s life.

A bone marrow transplant can be the only chance of survival for many people with severe disease such as blood cancer.

As only 30% of the people who need a bone marrow transplant find a match within their family, having a diversified international bone marrow register can really make a difference for many people around the world.

In order to sign up, you’ll be asked to have a health check and saliva sample taken. You’ll be contacted if you have a match and you can donate either peripheral blood stem cells or bone marrow.

Why you should be a bone marrow donor

Why you should be a bone marrow donor

See the orginal at the Juno Medical site here.

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National Cord Blood Awareness Month – Why are medical conditions can be treated with cord blood?


Stem cells

Stem cells

In the three years (or so) since this blog was founded we have run a number of articles on on stem cell treatments. And , in particular, on cord blood which contains stem cells.

The most common, and original, type is bone marrow transplant.

In our original post of stem cell therapy we explained that “Stem cell therapy is where doctors introduce adult stem cells into damaged tissue which in turn helps to treat an injury or disease. …So what is a stem cell? You have to sift through a lot of waffle on the internet to find out the answer but, in a nutshell, they are cells which have the ability to become other cells. They are a sort of “mother cell” which is not directly linked to a specific bodily function but can turn into, say, blood or bone cells. In scientific parlance stem cells are undifferentiated cells as opposed to say muscle cells which are referred to as differentiated.These stem cells are often cultivated in a lab and then transplanted to the host/patient as a treatment. The cells may help generate new cells which can affect a cure. One example is that stem cells may be used to kick start insulin production in the pancreas as a way of treating T1 diabetes.”

The purpose of this blog post if to look at a number of conditions which can be treated. We looked at multiple sclerosis in a previous blog which you might wish to read here.


It is worth mentioning that given the nature of the treatment many of the conditions which are currently treated relate to blood cancers.

Acute Leukemia’s – which can include :-
Acute Lymphoblast Leukemia (ALL)
Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML)
Acute Biphenotypic Leukemia
Acute Undifferentiated Leukemia

Chronic Leukemia’s – such as:-

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)
Juvenile Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (JCML)
Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMML)

Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Refractory Anemia (RA)
Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML)

Stem Cell Disorders

Aplastic Anemia
Fanconi Anemia
Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH)
Pure Red Cell Aplasia

Myeloproliferative Disorders

Acute Myelofibrosis
Agnogenic Myeloid Metaplasia (myelofibrosis)
Polycythemia Vera
Essential Thrombocythemia

Phagocyte Disorders

Chediak-Higashi Syndrome
Chronic Granulomatous Disease
Neutrophil Actin Deficiency
Reticular Dysgenesis

Other Inherited Disorders

Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome
Cartilage-Hair Hypoplasia
Glanzmann Thrombasthenia
Osteopetrosis
Adrenoleukodystrophy

Other Malignancies

Ewing Sarcoma
Neuroblastoma
Renal Cell Carcinoma
Retinoblastoma

Sickle Cell Disease

Inherited Immune System Disorders

Ataxia-Telangiectasia
Kostmann Syndrome
Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency
DiGeorge Syndrome
Bare Lymphocyte Syndrome
Omenn’s Syndrome
Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID)
SCID with Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency
Absence of T & B Cells
Common Variable Immunodeficiency
Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome
X-Linked Lymphoproliferative Disorder

Plasma Cell Disorders

Multiple Myeloma
Plasma Cell Leukemia
Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia
Amyloidosis

Lymphoproliferative Disorders

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Hodgkin’s Disease

It is worth mentioning that some research has been conducted look at stem cell treatments for autism. But this is still both experimental and controversial.

Finally over to you. Have you ever had stem cell treatments or a bone marrow transplant? If so please tell us a bit more in the comments section below.

Many thanks in advance.

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Donating an organ! Would you consider becoming an organ donor? Tell us your opinion?


Would you consider donating an organ?

Would you consider donating an organ?

It is a pretty regular thing in the UK , at least, for a news item on the need for more people to donate their organs after their death.  Currently organs that can be donated include :-

  • kidneys
  • liver
  • heart
  • lungs
  • small bowel
  • pancreas

Tissues that can be donated include:

  • the cornea (the transparent layer at the front of the eye)
  • bone
  • skin
  • heart valves
  • tendons
  • cartilage

In the UK and other countries there are plan afoot to make to a presumed consent or opt out system of organ donation.  This means that we will have to state that we do not want our organs to be used for transplantation surgery in the event of our passing as opposed to making a positive choice to donate.

We are really interested in what our readers think.  It would be great if you could take our poll below.

If you have received an organ from a donor it would be great if you could share your story in the comments box below.  Feel free to share any links that you think will be of interest to our readers.

Many thanks in advance.