Minnesota Update

I know a lot of people are curious about how things are going with the BMT process, so I wanted to give an update! 

Shortly after Raul was approved for the trial, the hospital requested that three possible donors undergo further lab work to determine who the best match would be. Two of the potential donors did this in late June, and one in early July. Then those results were submitted to Dr. Tolar to choose the best match. All were 8/8 matches, and two had similar secondary results, which is good as that means we have a backup should something not work out with the first. 

Today, after a few days of insurance confusion, a request for donor work up was made! It will take at least 1-2 weeks for us to get a response to that request. Minnesota has requested a donor clearance date of 9/9, meaning the donor would need their physical a week prior to that. If the donor clears their physical, that would mean we would likely travel the following week! If not, then they would have to approach the next donor and go through the workup process again. Once we go out there Raul will have his own workup week, and if all is okay he would begin the BMT process after that (likely 5 day of chemo, one of radiation, and then transplant). Of course this timeline could still be pushed back if there are any delays either on the donor side or with Raul's health, but hopefully around mid-September we will be going to MN!