Your stem cell donation - Preparation and procedure

First of all, a big thank-you to you for volunteering to donate stem cells to a blood cancer patient whose life depends specifically on your donation. You will be giving that patient the greatest gift of all: a second chance at life.

Donating stem cells is an act of the greatest altruistic kindness, and we are deeply grateful to you.

For more than 90% of donations, blood stem cells are collected through the donor’s bloodstream in a process called peripheral blood stem cell collection (PBSC). Their blood is passed through a small tube into a machine that collects the blood stem cells, and then returns the rest of the blood to the body. It’s a very similar experience to giving platelets, but takes a little longer.