Boiling It Down

The marrow from Scott was taken to SCCA, where a specialized nurse ran it through the Apheresis machine to separate out the stem cells from the rest of the stuff they collected. You can see the 2.5 liters that they collected from Scott hanging in the big bags on the right side. There is actually a second bag hanging behind the one that you see.

Of the bags hanging up on top, the one on the right is the stem cells that had been filtered out when we went to see her. The one in the center is probably the "other stuff" that was being filtered out. Scott had the marrow harvested from his pelvic bone, which is a surgical procedure (with lots of sedation). Donors for other transplants that have the stem cells collected from the donor's peripheral blood would actually be hooked up to this machine for the harvesting. It's more like donating blood at your local blood bank.