Alana Dung. Family photo

But the process has just begun and the clock is ticking.

Alana, suffering from a rare type of leukemia, already has undergone two series of chemotherapy treatments to rebuild her blood count.

Her mother, Adelia Dung, has said that's all the chemotherapy that could be done. After that, she has said, a transplant would be needed by about June 3 - next Monday - to save the child's life.

Thousands of people signed up as marrow donors in massive campaigns here, across the mainland and in other countries to find a match for the child.

The anonymous Taiwan donor has been undergoing tests to confirm the match and "it looks good right now," Amy Hampson, Cancer Research Center spokeswoman in Seattle, said today.

She said the donor has consented to the marrow harvesting procedure. However, it hasn't been decided whether the marrow will be taken from him there and flown to Seattle, or if the donor will be flown to Seattle, she said.

A transplant operation had been scheduled in Seattle for Alana in mid-July but was moved up to the end of June, Hampson said.

She said the family will be heading to Seattle soon so Alana can undergo pretransplant chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Hampson said she told Alana's family last week about the development and spoke with them again today, providing more information.

Kalowena Komeiji, representing the family, said all they knew last week was "there may be a preliminary match out of Taiwan."

She said the center told them they wouldn't know for about six weeks whether the blood met all of the screening requirements or if the donor would consent to the procedures.

With the race against time, Komeiji said, "Adelia has been calling them every day." She said they were "waiting for a letter or an official call that everything checked out and it's a go."