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 How Your Bone Marrow Works  Bone marrow is a spongy material found in the center of your bones. It’s the “factory” where your body’s blood cells are made.  Inside your bone marrow are worker cells called stem cells. Their job is to produce three types of blood cells:  red blood cells, carry oxygen (fuel) from your lungs throughout you body  white blood cells, fight infections and protect your body from germs  platelets, form clots to stop the bleeding when you get cut |
Bone Marrow Basics |
| What is a BMT? Bone marrow transplants, or “BMTs,” are performed to treat many types of cancer and other diseases. During a BMT, healthy bone marrow cells—specifically, stem cells—are transplanted into a person who has diseased or damaged marrow. (That’s why BMTs are also called “stem cell transplants,” or “SCTs.”) Why do I need a one? Blood Diseases: Many kids who need a BMT or SCT have bone marrow that isn't working properly. Kids with leukemia—like Christina—have marrow that’s overproducing abnormal white blood cells. The unhealthy cells crowd out the normal cells and keep them from doing their job. Kids with other blood diseases may have marrow that doesn’t produce enough blood cells. A transplant can help correct these kinds of diseases by replacing the patient’s unhealthy marrow with healthy cells that work properly. Cancers: Some kids have a cancerous tumor in their body that’s especially hard to get rid of. When this happens, doctors use very high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy to make the tumor go away. Unfortunately, this high-dose treatment also damages the healthy cells in the patient’s bone marrow. With a BMT or SCT, doctors can “rescue” the bone marrow by giving the patient healthy stem cells, which rebuild the bone marrow factory. (This type of transplant is usually easier to recover from because the bone marrow isn’t being replaced with an entirely new factory—instead, the old factory is just being rebuilt.) |