BMDW often receives emails or faxes from patients or their family, asking BMDW to search for a donor. BMDW does not respond to these requests other than providing the following information to the patient or their family.

1. The patient must be accepted by a hospital (transplant center) that performs unrelated stem cell transplants as a candidate for stem cell transplantation.
   
   
2. An unrelated donor search must be initiated by the transplant centre (TC).
• The TC will contact the national "hub" organization (if it exists), that can search the BMDW database and will co-ordinate the procedures.
• The TC can also search the BMDW database on-line on the WWW, if it has been authorized by the "hub".
• If a country has no national "hub", then the TC may contact BMDW directly for a search.
  
  
3. The TC must request blood samples of the prospective donor, to perform Confirmatory Testing.
   
   
4. The stem cell donor registry of the donor contacts the donor for counseling and collection of the requested blood samples.
   
   
5. If the confirmatory tests indicate compatibility, a formal request for stem cells can be made by the TC.
   
   
6. The donor is counseled more extensively by his or her donor center and gets a physical examination.
   
   
7. If everything is O.K. the donor will donate stem cells in his or her own country and the stem cells will be transported to the TC.

BMDW - Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide * Plesmanlaan 1b * 2333 BZ Leiden * The Netherlands