THE GIFT OF BONE-MARROW BY SIBLINGS AND T HE PARENTS

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is the last chance of recovery for s ome children suffering from malignant hemopathy or congenital blood di sease. BMT with related donor radically alters previous family relatio nships : each member of the nuclear family becomes actively involved. Parents and siblings all undergo HLA typing. Only 30% of those who wou ld benefit from bone marrow transplantation are lucky enough to have a n HLA matched related donor, brother or sister. Our retrospective stud y concerned related donors and theirs parents. This paper reports the parents study. It was carried out at Strasbourg University Hospital. P arents were invited to speak about the child's illness, the graft reas ons and their own position to regarding the choice of donor. Semi-stru ctured interviews were used and their content analysed. The results hi ghlight the expression by the parents of the need to maintain some con trol over the action which will save their child and establish an othe r gift system to keep their parental status.