Please read through all the information on this page
We have provided some information below on how donating may potentially affect your routine and your mental and physical health. Donating can affect everyone in a different way, and while we cannot predict your journey, we want you to be as informed as possible beforehand so you can decide if donating is the right thing for you.
Please read through all the information carefully. If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to talk things through, please get in touch with the team you’ve been speaking to. Their contact details will be in the emails or messages you've already received.
Things to consider
We have put together a list of things to consider around work and family commitments, your ability to take time out, and your physical and emotional health.
Being in a medical setting
You’ll need to be in a hospital for your medical check-up and your donation, and in some of our collection centres, there’ll be patients undergoing treatment in beds next to yours as well as other donors. If you aren't familiar with a hospitals or feel anxious in a medical environment please consider this ahead of donating.
Needle Phobia
The donation process, from when you are selected as a potential match, through to your donation day has a lot of needles involved. This includes multiple blood draws. If you're donating via PBSC you will also have your pre-donation injections (called G-CSF), during the donation itself has both cannulas and needles being used throughout the day. If you are donating via Bone Marrow, you will have cannulas for the general anaesthetic as well as blood draws. If you have a fear of needles or feel uneasy around needles or injections, please consider carefully if this process may be right for you. We understand that needle phobia can be difficult to deal with so if you have any questions, or prefer not to proceed, please let your coordinator know.
Mental health and wellbeing
Your mental wellbeing is really important to consider throughout the donation process. For some donors – particularly those donating for personal reasons or who have had previous stressful life experiences - the process might bring up difficult emotions or memories. If you think you might find it challenging at any point, please inform your coordinator so we can support you. A psychologist is also available if you’d like to speak to someone.
Many of our donors experience mental health issues such as anxiety, or low mood, or may experience neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD. These do not necessarily preclude you from donating but it is important that your coordinator is aware of them so they can both support you and put additional help in place if necessary for you. We may ask you about any recent medication or health changes. This is to ensure that your mental health is stable before proceeding.
While we do everything we can to plan ahead, changes or cancellations can sometimes occur at short notice due to the recipient’s condition. Sometimes changes in the process could be donor related, such as repeat or additional testing following your medical. This can be something like a repeat urine sample or some more blood tests. This unpredictability can be particularly difficult for those with mental health concerns. We encourage you to think about how you might respond to unexpected changes and to discuss any concerns with your coordinator.
Dependants
You may have children or other people relying on you, like a parent or grandparent. If so, make sure you can arrange for someone to step in for you while you attend medicals, donate, and recover after donation. Please note children (under 18) are not permitted to attend collection centres where companions are allowed. If you have any questions or concerns please discuss with your coordinator.
Time off work or study
You’ll need to consider that donating may require time off to travel, donate, and attend medicals, as well as any recovery time. It is important they are aware that things may change last minute and you may require additional time off.
We can provide a letter for your employer or place of study as confirmation of what we are asking you to do. If your employer is unable to provide the time off paid, we do cover loss of earnings which can be paid directly to yourself or your employer depending on the scenario.
You may also have exams, work projects, or important deadlines coming up. Please take these into consideration when discussing your donation. Your coordinator will work with you and the patients centre, or client if you are donating for research, to get a schedule that works around your commitments where possible.
You can find out more about this from your coordinator.
Physical Activity
If you are very active, depending on the way you to donate it might take you a few weeks to return to your pre-donation fitness level . You may also be asked to avoid certain activities for a week or two after your donation, such as contact sports. Please consider if you have a race or competition planned in the weeks following or prior to your donation .
Challenges & Changes
Donating is a selfless thing to sign up to do, and there are likely to be periods of uncertainty and possible stress for you to manage. Have a think about your coping strategies in stressful situations, and what the best ways for us to help you might be. It's important to take into consideration that if you are donating to a patient, plans could be postponed or cancelled last minute, this can be due to patients reasons or reasons following on from your medical. On average around 35% of donations are postponed and cancelled. It can be frustrating as it is not always possible to stick to an agreed schedule however we are here to support you throughout this process.
Cultural considerations
It’s possible that some religious practices (e.g. fasting) or social conceptions (e.g. a mistrust of medical procedures) may prevent you donating your stem cells, or affect your ability to donate. Please discuss with your coordinator any concerns so they are able to support you.
Transgender Donors
Please click here to read our FAQ page. This will help answer any questions you may have about what to expect during the donation process, and how this may impact you.
Sex and relationships
During the donation process you will be asked a lot of questions about sex and relationships. We have put together some information from our Medical team about what we ask, the reasons we ask certain questions, and testing which is done throughout the process. Click here to read all the FAQs on sex and relationships.
Talking to us
We want to be open and honest about anything and everything you may encounter during your donation journey. So, if after reading all the sections above you any further questions please let your coordinator know. You will be able to find their information in emails we have sent you.
We work standard office hours Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm. Your coordinator will contact you during these times via email or phone. If we need to contact you urgently we may also text you.
Before the donation process
Before you the patients hospital request you to donate, you will be contacted by our verification typing team. During this process you will be asked some health history questions, your availability will be discussed and potentially have a nurse organised to visit to draw some blood to confirm your match with the patient. During this time there may be some periods where you do not hear from your coordinator as we are waiting for instructions from the patients hospital. This is normal. It is also normal that a healthcare provider may reach out to you directly to discuss a potential blood draw.
If you’re unsure about anything, contact your coordinator who was emailing you about this.
At Medical
At your medical you’ll be asked a lot of questions around your medical history. You will be sent a copy of the questionnaire in advance of your medical to help you prepare for any questions you may need to think about further. You’ll be asked about personal topics, such as your physical and mental health, your sexual health, and your travel history. Your answers will stay completely confidential between you, Anthony Nolan, and medical staff.
Your veins will be assessed to see how likely it is you may require a central line, which you can read about here. It is important to note this could change on day of donation depending on the accessibility of your veins that day.
Once we have all the results from your medical, we will be able to see if based on the results you can proceed to donation. Sometimes things may come out of the medical that mean you are not suitable to donate, or require further investigation before we can proceed. This will be discussed with you at the time.
If your sex assigned at birth is female you will be asked to do a pregnancy test as you are unable to donate if you’re pregnant. Depending on the type of donation you will be asked to do additional tests throughout the process at various stages. You can read more about this here, on our sex and relationships page.
Pre - donation
Your donor journey is individual to you. As such, there are things you might not be able to plan for in advance, or that may change at the last minute. We’ll keep you informed as much as we can, in the way that works best for you. Some things will need a phone call, but for others, we can email – please let your coordinator know what you’d prefer.
Things to consider
- Your coordinator may change – but if they’re out of the office for any reason, you’ll still be supported by one of the team
- Your donation could be delayed, postponed, cancelled, or rescheduled at any time
- If your donation is delayed after you have attended your medical, and the new dates are more than 30 days away you will have to repeat some medical tests as some of the labs results expire. If more than 60 days we will need to repeat these and some additional testing as well as reviewing your health history questionnaire. If more than 6 months since your medical examination, we will need to repeat the full medical at the collection centre
- If you’re donating via the Peripheral Blood Stem Cell method (PBSC) you might experience side effects from the G-CSF injections you’ll be given to stimulate your body’s production of stem cells. You can read more about G-CSF injections and potential side affects here
During donation
Things to consider:
- You’ll have to travel from home to the collection centre for the medical, but we’ll try to get a nurse to you for any repeat blood tests if that’s more convenient
- You may not be allowed anyone to stay with you while you donate, ask your coordinator about the collection centre
- There can be a lot of waiting around during donation – it can help to bring something to read, listen to, or work on
For Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) donation specifically:
- You may need to donate over two days for various factors such as patient weight or the requested cell count being high. If a 2 day donation is required it may mean an overnight stay if you don’t live locally to the collection centre where you donate. To read more about this please click here
- If you are donating to a patient, you may need to donate via a central line in your neck or groin if the veins in your arms aren’t found to be suitable for donation. This would mean an overnight stay in the collection centre if you need to go to a second day. At your medical your veins will be assessed to see if this is likely, but it could still happen unexpectedly on the day
- During donation, you can read, watch TV, and eat and drink – but you’ll have to do it all while keeping one arm very still!
- If you need the toilet once your donation has begun, the nurse will be able to help you with a bedpan, bottle, or commode.
- In some cases, we may not collect enough stem cells after your first donation, even with the G-CSF injections. If this happens, we will ask you to return for a second day of donation and you will be given a 5th dose of GCSF.
- In some circumstances (approximately 1 in 100 donations) when you are donating to a patient, we may also recommend an additional injection called plerixafor to help your body release more stem cells in addition to the 5th dose of GCSF.
- There may also be a chance that the patients hospital request a donation via emergency Bone marrow following a low dose collection - you can read more about that here.
For Bone Marrow (BM) donation specifically:
- You’ll need to stay in hospital for 2 nights, so please have a think about any commitments you might have that someone else will need to do for you. You’ll be able to bring someone with you, but they will have to stay in a hotel room, and not at the hospital with you
- You will be asked by the collection centre to be nil by mouth after a certain time the night before your donation - this is because you will be under general anaesthetic
- Your operation usually takes place early in the morning and you’ll have a general anaesthetic. After the procedure, you’ll return to the ward to recover and stay for a second night before being discharged the next day. Most donors feel sore and tired – your hospital will let you know what pain relief you can take
- We suggest you take a week off work (depending on how active your job is) and avoid physical activity for two weeks after your donation, so it's important you think about what this means for you and whether you need to plan some extra support at home while you recover
- Your coordinator will send you a helpful list of things to bring to your donation to help prepare you for an overnight stay at the collection centre.
Post-donation
You’ll have just done an incredible thing – so, first things first, thank you! Your donation could be a lifesaver for your patient, or be part of ground breaking research. But remember to look after yourself, too.
- Your recovery
Everyone experiences donation differently, and however you're feeling afterward, know that you're not alone. Our dedicated follow-up team is here to support you and ensure you're well cared for after your donation
For PBSC donations, most donors (72%) take 2 or 3 days to recover. For bone marrow donations, it usually takes between 7 and 10 days to recover, but occasionally it can take longer – some people need between 7 and 30 days. The most common are tiredness, mild aches and pains, and some pain or bruising around the donation site. You can read more about what to expect post donation here
- Your patient
If you’d like to write a letter to your recipient, you are able to do so. However, please be aware that we are not always able to pass letters on. This may be due to privacy regulations in certain countries, or because the patient has chosen not to receive contact.
Whilst a small number of donors may go on to meet their recipient, this is relatively rare. Any contact of this nature is led by the patient and may also be affected by privacy regulations. It’s also important to understand that your donation may not be used. This can happen if the patient’s condition changes, for example, if they become too unwell to proceed with the transplant. Even when a transplant does go ahead, the outcome isn’t guaranteed. We encourage you to think about how you might feel if this were to happen, and please know that we’re here to support you every step of the way.
- Donating towards research
By donating your cells to research you have the opportunity to impact even more lives. One donation for a research study could unlock new discoveries and help shape the future of treatments. Outcomes from research take time to flourish and be impactful, this can take months and sometimes years. If you would like to find out about the progress of the research project your cells were donated to, please contact your coordinator, and we will see if we can share an update from the research client. We are always keen to find out how our donor's cells have made an impact and would love to be able to update you if we can, but please note this will not always be possible.
Thank you
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through all this information. We hope you found it helpful, and that we were able to answer any questions you may have had about donating. You might like to bookmark the page so you can return to it easily if you need to at any point in future.
If you have any questions, if you’re feeling unsure, or even if you don’t want to donate anymore, do get in touch with your coordinator. We’re here to support you as you make your decision, whatever it may be.
You'll find their contact details in the emails they've sent you.