CanadianCindyB

I've had a few people ask me what the process is to be tested to be a donor for our baby's needed liver transplant due to his genetic condition of Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency.  I had posted a little bit about our meeting with the transplant team earlier, but not the actual application process. If you are interested in being a potential donor, you must be either O blood type, or possibly B blood type. Positive/negative doesn't matter.  We are currently waiting on results to find out whether baby's blood type is O or B.  If you are O, you can be a donor no matter what blood type the baby is.  If baby turns out to be B blood type, then B blood types can also be donors. For other info, see the same link as above... Meeting With The Transplant Team.   You will see that currently they would really only consider people under 150lbs.  However, if you are bigger than this, and are still interested, please keep the thought...  If baby grows well after birth, and p

After meeting with the transplant team a couple weeks ago, one of the big pieces of missing info was "What blood type is the baby?"  By knowing the blood type definitively, it helps the process along by knowing who can and who can't be a donor.  If we know ahead of time, they can put baby on the transplant list probably as soon as I'm in labor, or right at birth.  It also helps potential donors know if they would qualify or not. I knew they had taken extra amniotic fluid as a just in case measure when I had my amnio done back in June.  I mentioned this to the transplant team as a potential source of information for blood typing, and that I would have genetics look into whether blood typing could be done in this way. It took some research, but it can be done!  Sick Kids has found a lab somewhere in New York that will process the extra amniotic fluid to find out the blood type definitively.  I think this is pretty cool on a theoretical, scientific, research basis.