I wish you brother well with this ‘adventure’. At 75 he’s in the older range for a SCT but I’ve personally mentored people who were 75 at the time of transplant and are doing fabulously several years later. I’m not sure if there is an actual cutoff date, that is left to your brother and the transplant team to decide together.

He would have to go through a rigorous testing program, which takes about a week, to make sure he is healthy enough to endure the impact of the preconditioning chemo and the transplant itself. At this time an Allogenic stem cell transplant is the only potential cure for CMML. But there are treatments which may help slow the progression of the disease if your brother doesn’t qualify.

This may be putting the cart before the horse because you don’t know if your brother will have the transplant. But if you do become a donor, there many steps that will be taken. Being a donor does require a time commitment over a few weeks from screening to stem cell harvesting. Once accepted, you will most likely receive injections which help promote the growth of more stem cells so that you have an adequate amount to donate at the time of harvest. Harvesting itself is much easier than it sounds. It’s basically done similar to donating blood. However the blood is run through a machine that separates cells and then returns your blood back to you. The cells are then collected and your part is over.

I found a really nice article in Medical News Today if you’re interested, about a donor’s first hand accounting of how his donation day went. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/through-my-eyes-stem-cell-donation

Obviously your experience may differ a little but it gives a good overall experience of the procedure.

Best wishes to both of you if you can be his donor. If you or your brother have any questions about the transplant itself, please don’t hesitate. There are several of us in the forum who have had allogenic stem cell transplants (using donor cells). We’re all here to help others along their way. It’s not easy but it is worth the second chance with life.

There are also several discussion in the blood cancer support group with people have been diagnosed with CMML. You may want to peruse those conversations so you know what your brother may be experiencing. Not everything will apply to his condition but the conversations are educational.

CMML vs CMUS
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cmml-vs-cmus/
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Looking for recommendations of doctors with expertise in CMML
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cmml-2nd-opinion-docs/
How’s your brother coping with the diagnosis?