We report a 27-year-old male patient with acute myeloid leukaemia who was successfully treated with an unrelated bone marrow graft within 7 days following the loss of his autologous bone marrow graft. Several factors were found to be essential in order to locate an HLA-ABDR (DRB1)DQ(DQB1) identical, sex-matched, CMV-negative and ABO compatible donor within a week. These included a common HLA phenotype of the patient, the presence of an experienced donor registry in close proximity to a blood bank associated with an HLA laboratory, a large donor file with fully HLA-ABDR typed donors and the almost exclusive use of blood bank donors as potential bone marrow donors. The possibility of further streamlining the logistics of finding a suitable unrelated bone marrow donor is discussed.