Faqs

Unfortunately it is not possible to register as a blood stem cell donor for anyone who is under ordered quarantine. This includes acute COVID-19 patients, those who have recently tested positive [...]

It is vitally important that you keep us updated with your current contact details – so that you can be found when you are needed, because your details are kept on the registry until you are 60 [...]

The Sunflower Fund recruits donors nationally. You can register telephonically via our call centre: 0800-12-10-82. We also hold donor drives or sponsored corporate drives. Interested parties can [...]

Unfortunately, the field of stem cell transplantation is complex and a number of patients still die of complications, despite the best medical care. Increasing numbers of successful transplants [...]

The medical procedure for obtaining stem cells is called a harvest. If you are asked to donate, you would be required to attend a specialist harvest centre in South Africa at no cost to the donor.

Sibling transplants have been taking place for more than 30 years; a short-term side effect is flu-like symptoms during G-CSF stimulation and a small percentage of donors have also reported mild [...]

The stem cells that are needed for a transplant may be obtained by a relatively simple procedure called peripheral blood stem cell collection or ‘harvests’. This is similar to the blood donation [...]

A donor can withdraw from the registry at any time. However, if a match is found and the donor commits to the procedure, a point is reached when withdrawing will have serious, possibly fatal [...]

Possible matching donors will be asked to provide further blood samples to help select the donor who matches best for a particular patient.

Volunteers, if deemed to be suitable, need to have a small blood sample taken, which is sent to specialised laboratories for tissue-typing. The results are placed on the national registry.