Anyone Donated Bone Marrow or Blood Stem Cells?
I'm sure there are other prooners who are on the Anthony Nolan Trust register (or its equivalent in other countries) but is there anyone out there who has been selected as a donor? I have, and I'm scheduled to go through the donation process early in November.
All well and good but I'm wondering what effect it will have on my ATCO Class One. I've already written to the CAA's Medical Branch but the wheels of that organisation turn slowly so I'm asking you lot in the mean time.
There are two methods of donation - bone marrow donation under general annaesthetic and peripheral blood stem cell donation. I'm tending towards the latter method which involves a series of injections of a granulocyte growth factor followed by the actual donation which invoves my blood passing through a machine which separates out the stem cells. This takes about four hours with a possible second session the following day. Whilst I'm not really looking forward to all the needles I prefer that idea to undergoing a GA.
My main concern is that the g-csf drug might have an affect on my licence in which case I would opt for the bone marrow donation but I'm willing to listen to anyone who has been through either method of donation.