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11 yr old rare disease survivor meets his blood stem cell donor

DTMT Network

In a heart-warming moment, an Aplastic Anemia survivor who is an 11-year-old boy from India virtually met his blood stem cell donor from Germany for the first time.

Aplastic anemia is a rare blood-related disease that occurs when the body stops producing enough new blood cells.

The meeting was organized by the non-profit organization DKMS BMST Foundation India on the occasion of Blood Cancer Awareness Month.

Twarit, an 11-year-old Aplastic anemia survivor, had a difficult childhood after being diagnosed with the disease at the age of nine.

“Twarit required a stem cell transplant to survive and was fortunate enough to find his lifesaver- Mr. Duc Pham Ngoc, a 26-year-old German Economics professional who donated his blood stem cells and gave this little boy a second chance at life!” the foundation said in a statement.

The foundation stated that as per the international guidelines, the identity of both the blood stem cell donor and recipient were kept anonymous for two years, and thereafter upon interest, they are introduced to each other.

Twarit’s treating physician Dr. Sunil Bhat, Director and Clinical Lead, Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, said, “For a successful stem cell transplant, and HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) matched donor is required. About 30% of the time HLA matched donors will be available within the family; however, in the rest, we have to look for a matched “unrelated” donor.”

“Chances of finding a fully matched unrelated donor is one in a million. Hence, having a large pool of unrelated donors is required to be able to find a matched donor for a patient. Stem cell registries like DKMS-BMST recruit such unrelated voluntary donors and helps thousands of patients like Twarit who require lifesaving stem cell transplant,” he added.

Duc had registered as a potential stem cell donor with DKMS Germany in the year 2013 at the age of 18 and after six years he was found to be a match.

“When I got the call asking if I would donate my blood stem cells, I was surprised. I felt overjoyed to know that my receiver was a little boy with his whole life ahead of him,” Duc said.

“My little contribution, which only took a few hours of my effort, had such a big impact on him. And today, even though it was through a virtual medium, I felt so proud to see him healthy and doing well. If the pandemic hadn’t struck, I would have wanted to visit India and meet Twarit in person,” he shared.

 “I hope that more individuals would join this noble cause and help patients who are battling blood cancer and blood disorders,” he added.

 Twarit’s father Mr. Atul Srivastava said “We felt helpless when Twarit was diagnosed with such a rare medical condition. However, we were given a light of hope after meeting Dr. Sunil Bhat, who assured us how blood stem cells transplant can save Twarit's life, and then we began our search for an unrelated blood stem cell donor.”

“We were fortunate to find a match for our son within a few months through DKMS. There are no words to express our gratitude to Duc for saving our child's life; we wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” he added.


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