Sibling bone marrow donation following pregnancy

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Handinhand

Full Member
10+ Year Member
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Hey all,

Let me preface this by saying that I am not looking for medical advice, but am merely a curious medical student looking to gain some knowledge.

I have an uncle who has ALL who has recently exhausted all chemotherapy options and is now beginning the process of bone marrow transplantation. He has 8 brothers and sisters (one being my mother) that are now being tested for a match. I was talking with my mom about it and she said that that all sisters are being tested last, because they've all had multiple children, and my uncle's heme-onc had told them that the more pregnancies the women have had the less likely they are to be a match.

This is where I'm confused. I was hoping someone much more knowledgeable than I could explain this to me -- on why a female sibling is less and less likely to be a match depending on how many pregnancies she's had?

Again, I am not looking for personal advice, I just wanted to give some context on to where my question arose.

Thank you to anyone who can help!