The Ultimate Blood Brothers

Ron Anderson

Ron Anderson, LA Support Group Coordinator, received a bone marrow transplant eight years ago.  His brother, a perfect match, was his donor.  We asked his brother to share his experience to get a donor’s perspective.

Was there ever a time, once you knew you were a perfect match for your brother, that you thought you would not be his donor?

No, by the time his doctor told him he needed a bone marrow transplant he was seriously ill and probably would not survive for very long without a total transplant.  As it turned out, my brother and I have type A+ blood and (thank God) I turned out to be a very good match for him.  I just felt very fortunate I would be a great donor and could help him.

When I told him I was willing to be his donor I thought I would be going into a hospital operating room and have doctors use needles to remove my marrow from my pelvic bone.  Later, I found out about Peripheral Blood Stem Cells (PBSCs) and a process called apheresis.  My stem cells could be collected by drawing blood out of my veins, filtering them out and the rest of my blood would be given back to me.   I was very pleased to learn about this nonsurgical method.

How has this experience changed you?

For the first time I took a hard look at my entire family’s age/health issues and felt there was a real possibility that I might not have any family members alive in the next 5 to 10 years.  That was not a very comforting thought for me.  I think this experience with Ron not only strengthened my relationship with him but with my entire family.  Since Ron’s transplant in 2009 I have tried not to take my family for granted.  Since 2009 both of my parents have passed away but I am very thankful I still have my two brothers.

What, if any, were the side effects?

The only side effects I can remember was some mild hip and shoulder joint pain issues after taking the drug Neupogen to increase my stem cell production.  It went away within a reasonable time frame (I think about a couple of weeks) after I stopped taking that medication.  The only other issue I experienced was during my hospital blood collection time when I had some tingling around my mouth apparently from decreased calcium blood levels from the filtering process of my stem cells.   That tingling totally stopped after the apheresis when completed.

Can you briefly explain the experience in the hospital?

All the hospital staff were great and they gave a very good explanation of what would be happening during my stay.  They were very caring and made me feel very comfortable during the apheresis process.

In the hospital, I sat in a comfortable lounge chair for about 6 hours a day for 2 days (because I also agreed to give extra cells to stem cell researchers) squeezing a soft ball with my hand during the stem cell collection process.  As my blood calcium levels dropped during the apheresis procedure calcium had to be replaced back into my vein which sometimes caused that vein to fail and infiltrate.  I think the worst part of the hospital stay was the restarting of new I.Vs.  I had about 4 or 5 new I.V. restarts a day and some pretty good bruises on the back of my hands and forearms by the time the apheresis was completed.  At the end of the day, a very small price to pay for helping my brother.