O negative blood group

[GrannyDoll61]

My hubby has o negative blood.How will this affect his wait on the transplant list ?

[AyrshireK]

Hello GrannyDoll, those with 'O' blood type often have the longest wait time unfortunately.

'O' is the most common blood type so although there are more 'O' donors there are also more people waiting for 'O' livers also 'O' is the universal donor so even those who are waiting for an A or B or AB liver can accept an 'O' liver whereas someone with 'O' can only accept an 'O' liver.

However, having said all that it all depends on how poorly your husband is, how much of a priority he is and where he sits on the 'O' list at your transplant centre, his body size too and what type of liver he can accept also comes into play.

Whenever your own transplant centre gets word that a potential donation is on the cards, the co-ordinators look at their list to see who matches the liver by blood type, by body size and by donation type (brain deceased, cardiac deceased, split liver etc) and then match the donor organ with the most poorly person on that given list. Someone listed today could wait months even years or indeed could get the call within hours. The transplant list isn't like a list you work your way up it all depends on highest priority and closest match to any given organ.

Hope that clarifies matters.

Fingers crossed your husbands call comes soon.

Katie x

[GrannyDoll61 in reply to AyrshireK]

Had the phonecall!

[AyrshireK in reply to GrannyDoll61]

I did say "Someone listed today could wait months even years or indeed could get the call within hours." Best wishes.

Katie

[jojokarak]

I am same blood group and I was on and off the list for 9 months but I was highest priority for 2 weeks and had 2 calls in that fortnight the second one being the successful one

[Kristian]

Given your last post, clearly not very much at all, lol. Best wishes for a successful outcome.

[Kez12]

Oh I never thought about that. I'm B negative.

K

[AyrshireK in reply to Kez12]

The + or - status of your blood doesn't come into play. Only the blood group - B is fairly rare so whilst there will be less B donors, there will be less folks waiting for one as well so list will be fairly short. A person like yourself with a need for a B liver will also be able to accept and O liver too so your wait would most likely be fairly short, also, with your current symptoms Kez your need is pretty urgent so you'd more than likely be fairly near the top of the list to start with. What they will need to investigate at t/p assessment is your support network but as hospital are already on board with that fingers crossed they can work something out for you. T/P team have a Social Work team.

Fingers crossed for you,

Katie

[Kez12 in reply to AyrshireK]

Thanks for that. One less thing to worry about at least.

K