The past few days have been pretty tough. I found out yesterday that my donor (a woman significantly smaller than me) would prefer to donate marrow as opposed to peripheral stem cells which is not ideal. They are unsure if they will be able to collect enough bone marrow and because she is not my blood type they  would have to remove all red blood cells from the sample which further reduces the amount of it they can use. At the same time, donors typically prefer peripheral stem cell donation because its less invasive and does not require anesthesia. Hopefully, it can be explained to her that peripheral stem cell donation is the only way her donation would work and she will change her mind on Monday.

Moral of the story my transplant will likely be delayed by 2/3 weeks which is disappointing but theres not much we can do when it comes to communicating with the donor.

Fortunately, because Spencer is a half match, if my unrelated donor doesnt work out. Also, half match related donors are considered about as good as a fully matched unrelated donor. He will start his pre-donation tests and assessments on Tuesday in case we need him to donate.

I’ve also been experiencing some numbness in my legs which is likely being caused by the nelarabine. Walking is currently very difficult, but hopefully over the next few days this will improve.

On Monday we will find out more.

Still fighting,

Ethan Wissell