Stem cell donation can help save lives of patients suffering from serious ailments like leukemia (blood cancer) and thalassemia.
Blood and organ donation can save lives but did you know you can also donate stem cells that could save lives of patients suffering from serious ailments like leukemia (blood cancer) and thalassemia? "If a liver is damaged then we can transplant the organ, similarly blood can be changed by giving the patient new stem cells. These cells grow into different blood components," said Dr Sameer Melinkeri, chief of bone marrow transplant at the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune.
The process involves giving the donor a simple injection to mobilise stem cells from their bone marrow. This increases the concentration of stem cells in their blood in the next few days. "The donor can then simply walk into a blood bank and donate blood. There is a seperate machine that seperates the stem cells from the blood. The donor can go back to work almost immediately," Dr Melinkeri added.
A rare match
While siblings are the best matches, in the eventuality that the patient does not have a sibling, one needs to screen around 10,000 people to find a match. This makes it important to have a large database of people registered so that a match can be found. "With blood stem cell donation a person can contribute in saving lives. Over 100 diseases can be cured by peripheral blood stem cell donation but many have misconceptions about the process," said Raghu Rajagopal, co-founder of DATRI, a registry of blood stem cell donors. A cotton swab is used to remove cells from a person's inner cheek while they are registered. The DNA from the cells extracted is then mapped and the information saved. DATRI currently has only 11,317 registered donors from Maharashtra. This is less than half of the registered donors from states like Kerala (28,345) and Tamil Nadu (27,945).
Waiting to find the right match
DATRI's search list has nearly 60 patients waiting for a donor. With donor matches being rare, the only hope for many patients is that more and more people volunteer for the process.
Mirnalini Venkatraman (28) had registered with DATRI in 2011 and forgotten about it till she received a call last year informing her that there was a recipient who had matched with her. "The process was very simple. I was given an injection to increase the concentration of stem cells in my blood. The process of donation itself took a few hours and is similar to blood donation. You barely loose 100 ml of your blood," Venkatraman said.
Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC) coordinator Rahul Wasnik believes that conduction awareness campaigns along with blood donation drives can make a huge difference. "People need to be informed about blood platelet donation and blood stem cell donation during drives. That will encourage more of them to come forward and willingly donate."
In June DATRI facilitated 2 donations for patients from Maharashtra. Nearly 60 patients from the city are on the wait list. DATRI has facilitated nearly 17 donations in Maharashtra so far, over 100 drives conducted.
Total registrations with DATRI
Maharashtra: 11,317
Kerala: 28,345
Tamil Nadu: 27,945
AP & Telangana: 16,931
This family's struggle with terminal illness sees no end
Mangesh Ingle (40) has three sons, two of them suffering from thalassemia major. His oldest son Adesh (18) and second son Yogesh (16) have spent their childhood going in and out of hospitals. If the trauma of seeing his children who are being treated at the Sion Hospital was not enough, he was also asked to go on an indefinite leave from his job as a housekeeping staff at a private firm.
"I have been home for the past seven months. I used to take a lot of leaves as my son needed treatment so my company asked me to come back only when all my problems were sorted," Ingle said.
His sons have now tested positive for Hepatitis B and the medicine course will cost them Rs36,000 each. Meanwhile, his wife Sunita continues her work as a house hold help to make ends meet.
He can be reached at 098 70 220888
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