How does the search for a blood stem cell donor work?

Looking for a matching stem cell donor is like looking for a needle in a haystack. When a blood cancer or blood disorder patient depends on a blood stem cell transplant to survive, they need a donor whose tissue characteristics are a 100% match, if possible. When a person registers as a potential blood stem cell donor, their data is made available for worldwide searches in global donor pool of World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). When a patient needs a blood stem cell donor, search requests are sent to the WMDA, and if a potential donor is found on the DKMS-BMST database, to match the patient, we will be informed and we will then contact the donor immediately.