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Siddarth Koyal and Mehul Korat

Blood stem cell donor gives new life to 18-year-old

DTMT Network
The kind act of Mehul Korat, 30, from Surat, has given a new lease of life to Siddarth Koyal, an 18-year-old Mumbai student. Mehul donated his blood stem cells to Siddharth, who was diagnosed with Thalassemia Major when he was just 4 months old and he needed regular blood transfusions till he could find a life-saving blood stem cell donor.

Both the donor and recipient met each other at an event one year after transplantation of the blood stem cells. Siddarth became emotional when he met Korat.

The transplantation was done at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center, Bengaluru, in 2018, through DATRI, India’s largest adult unrelated Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry, which mediated the donation. It had been a painful 17 years for Siddarth, who needed regular blood transfusions till he could find a life-saving blood stem cell donor.

After passing the 12th standard, Siddarth wanted to go abroad to pursue higher education. But his medical condition kept him from pursuing his dream. This was the time when he was heartbroken and started looking for a permanent solution.

At that time, Sangita Koyal, Siddarth’s mother, was volunteering with DATRI and learnt about the permanent cure for Thalassemia through Blood Stem Cell, also known as Bone Marrow transplant. Fortunately, Siddarth found a donor match with DATRI and the transplant took place. Now, Siddarth is a year post transplant and will be merrily pursuing his dreams.

Mehul was very keen to donate and save a life. A day prior to his donation, he met with an accident and was unconscious for a day. As soon as he recovered and got back to his senses all he wanted was to go ahead with donation.

“You are not important because of how long you live, but you are important because of how effectively you live.” said a beaming Mehul.

Siddharth said, “I do not have words to express my feelings. My family and me have waited for so long to meet the person whose selfless act has resulted in gifting me a new life. Today, we are totally overwhelmed to meet Mehul bhaiya, who is now a part of our lives and will always be in our prayers. Thank you DATRI for finding this match and gifting me back my dreams.”

As per the registry protocol, the identity of donors and recipients are kept anonymous for one year. Post one year, the recipient and donor expressed their desire to meet each other and doctors declared that Siddarth was completely cured. DATRI facilitated the meeting between the two and their families.

Dr. Sunil Bhatt, Head of Department of  Paediatric Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center, Bangaluru, said, “Relentless efforts of DATRI over the years have gifted lives to many of the patients. Nearly 27 of my patients have found their HLA matched donors through DATRI. However, there are still many who can be saved if more volunteer donors can come forward to become Blood Stem Cell donors.”


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