Interactive stories
Why Matching Is So Hard
Finding a matching donor is hard because a match is more than a blood type. HLA genes have many versions. A patient’s combination may be common in a registry, or it may be difficult to find. NMDP, the U.S. registry, says 75% of patients do not have a fully matched donor in their own family.
Explore how blood stem cell transplants work, why HLA matching matters, and how donor registries connect people across borders. Each story explains where a transplant may fit; it is not needed by everyone with the same diagnosis.
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Leukemia
How leukemia affects blood production, when a donor transplant may help, and how inherited HLA markers shape the search for a suitable donor.
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Read focused guides to blood cancers, marrow failure and other conditions. Each guide explains the role of transplant and whether donated cells are involved.
What the leukemia story covers
Marrow
Blood begins here.
Bone marrow is the soft tissue inside bones where blood cells are made. It continually replaces cells that have reached the end of their lives.
Leukemia
Leukemia changes how blood cells develop.
Leukemia is a group of cancers of blood-forming tissue. Abnormal blood cells build up and can interfere with healthy blood production.
Treatment
A donor transplant is one possible treatment.
Many people with leukemia are treated without a donor transplant. Some people with AML or ALL may benefit from one, including selected patients with a higher risk of relapse or disease that has returned.
HLA
A match is more than a blood type.
For a donor transplant, laboratories compare inherited HLA types. This is different from matching red-blood-cell groups such as A, B or O.
Family
Family members may share an HLA pattern.
For siblings who share both biological parents, each sibling has a 25% chance of inheriting the same two HLA groups as the patient.
Registry
The search can cross borders.
Registries and cord blood banks cooperate internationally so transplant teams can look beyond a patient’s own country. The World Marrow Donor Association supports this network.
Match
A full match is valuable. It is not always the only path.
Depending on the patient and treatment plan, a team may consider a matched unrelated donor, a mismatched unrelated donor, a haploidentical relative or a cord blood unit.
Act
Someone may be searching for a person like you.
Joining an eligible registry gives transplant teams another potential donor to consider. A gift to the Jada Bascom Foundation supports the education and outreach that help people take that first step.
Educational information from the Jada Bascom Foundation, a donor-registry referrer. Diagnosis and treatment decisions belong to patients and their medical teams.
