Why are transplants necessary?

The word transplant suggests the image of a major organ transplant, but bone marrow transplants are very different. Bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells are both removed by needle - and received intravenously.

The objective of a transplant is to restore the bone marrow’s ability to produce healthy blood cells - to carry oxygen, prevent bleeding and fight off infection.

Some illnesses directly attack the red blood cells. In others, the chemotherapy used to destroy the proliferating cancer cells also destroys the patient’s bone marrow.

For both cases, the transplanted cells – from the bone marrow or the peripheral blood from a volunteer donor - have the potential to restore the bone marrow’s lifesaving ability.