I have seen a few on the facebook bmt survivor page. Your brother is always in my prayers and I will continue to pray for him.

Hugs and prayers.

Karen

Twilight,

I'm praying fir your brother Dave.

Julie

Thank you Julie and Karen. I know this is in Gods hands but we humans have to keep trying through trusting in the docs, the scientists, each other and in the power of prayer.

Twilight -- your brother's blood numbers per se and his need for transfusions at this point are not going to cause him to need a second BMT. It would only be if they find a large amount of blasts in his blood. Otherwise it is just a matter of time before his new marrow will start to work. We are all praying for him, and I am sure it you just give it a couple more weeks, things will be working out. Take care -- daveB

Twilight,

Second transplants are common enough and I have known of many who got a second transplant and have done well.

I will keep your brother in my prayers. Tell him to be brave and that he may do very well even if he has to go through this again.

Cliff

Dave and Cliff,

I love you guys. You are always so positive, supportive and encouraging.

Bro gets a full round of tests as per study next week. This is two months after booster and four months since he went back on 2215 after relapse post transplant.

Keep those prayers going and thanks for the support.
Twilight

Is there any evidence that younger donors are better than older ones? My sister was the donor at age 60. We both wondered since we were both matches about the relevance of age. I am older so was not chosen. Obviously either of us were willing to do whatever we could and were asked. It is no one's fault but I just wondered about the relevance of age.
If bro needs to go through this again, I hope it is a strong, robust 20 year old's marrow. Maybe I am crazy, but my gut tells me this might be what he needs. The docs did say they would go to the donor bank if they do it again.

Twilight,

I don't think it matters. I asked my dad's doctor this same question and she said age didn't matter - stem cells were stem cells, no matter the age of the donor.

I've heard that they prefer younger donors. We held a Bone Marrow drive last year and they didn't even take a swab for anyone over 50. They actually said they like to keep it under 44 yrs old. But that could be just for unrelated donors. Older related donors might be better than younger unrelated.

Lora is right, for a mud donor the cut off is age is 44. Not so for a related donor, my brother was 59 when he gave me his stem cells. He is also in excellent condition, skiing and biking in Colorado. Be the Match likes to hold donor drives at all the universities to get young and healthy donors. I believe there was a story recently that 3 (maybe more, chemo brain) football players from the same college team got called in to donate. So the Docs must think there is some benefit to have a young and fit donor if possible.
DaveJ

I should have said the preferred cut off age is 44, they have and do take older mud (matched unrelated donor) donations.
DaveJ

As I feared, my brother is headed to a second BMT. While the 2215 drug is holding the leukemia at bay (even some lower blasts), the immune system is not strong enough to kick the butt of this awful disease. The docs have said the current course of action has limited duration (6-12 months) and they are afraid the drug will eventually lose effectiveness.

The good news is they feel he is healthy enough despite the risks and they have said there are plenty of matches in the bank. Basically, this is a no choice situation --

Right now, I am angry and heartbroken - but something tells me we can get through this and perhaps some 28 year old male will have the kind of marrow he needs to finally lick this. And this time, he would be allowed to go back on 2215 about a month post transplant - at least until he was in full remission.

I know many of you understand this pain - prayers to all
Twiligh

So sorry to hear about your brothers situation. My hubby was headed for a 2nd transplant, but the chemo never brought the blasts down low enough. He started on a clinical trial which seemed to be helping. It was still too early to tell. But due to his weakened immune system he ended up getting pneumonia. But they seemed very positive about doing the 2nd transplant and were quite shocked when the chemo did not work.

So sorry about your husband. In brother's case, he has been on a clinical trial and the 2215 drug has kept the blasts under control so hopefully they will not have to get them way down. Docs just feel the drug will not continue to work as well with time and his immune system is just not strong enough to fight off the disease even with the drug.
This is so scary!

Your brother is in my prayers. Hugs to you Twilight.

Karen