Why Finding a Marrow Match Sooner Instead of Later is Crucial

I was reading on the National Marrow Donor Program website last night and found this bit of information that reassures me that moving forward as quickly as possible is essential in increasing Tami's survival rate from Myelodysplasia.

While I didn't understand all of it there was this bit I gleaned that seemed very significant regarding the importance of an early transplant:

Transplant Outcomes by Disease and Disease Stage
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)

"a higher life expectancy was associated with transplant that was delayed but performed prior to development of AML. This was true particularly for adult patients younger than 40.

For patients with intermediate-2 and high-risk IPSS scores, a higher life expectancy was associated with transplant performed at diagnosis."

So it is very important to locate a donor as close to her diagnosis as possible, especially if Tami falls into the one third of patients for whom MDS progresses to become Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

At stake is her long term, disease free, survival rate which will be less then it could have been had a donor been found prior to the onset of AML.