Are there any side effects to bone marrow donation?

The risks of this type of stem cell donation are minimal. Before the donation, you'll get injections of a medicine that increases the number of stem cells in your blood. This medicine can cause side effects, such as bone pain, muscle aches, headache, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. read more

20 years ago I had a sucessful bone marrow transplant with my brother the donor. Nowadays, donors don't donate marrow directly but have blood withdrawn and have the marrow stem cells separated from the rest of the blood . read more

Though no medical procedure is without risk, there are rarely any long-term side effects donating either PBSC or bone marrow. Your cells replenish themselves in 4 to 6 weeks. Because only 1 to 5% or less of your marrow is needed to save the patient’s life, your immune system stays strong. read more

Very few bone marrow donors suffer any long-term complications from their donation. Around the world, researchers looked at over 27,000 people who had donated bone marrow in 35 countries. Of these people, there was one death and 12 serious events (mostly heart related) that were felt to be related to bone marrow donation. read more