When 10-year-old Sam from Kolar was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia in June, little did his parents imagine that he would end up getting a bone marrow transplant from an international donor.
Following an evaluation for bleeding gums and bleeding in his nose, it was detected that his haemoglobin (Hb) had dropped to 4.5 grams per decilitre (g/dL) of blood and platelet to 10,000. In children of his age, the normal Hb level should be 12 g/dL and platelet count should be 1.5 lakh.
Worried, his parents took him to a higher centre for treatment. He was then diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, a condition in which the bone marrow fails to produce enough blood cells.
His only chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant. But, unfortunately for him, he did not have a matching donor available in the family and continued to have recurrent bleeding and fever.
Despite a frantic search, doctors at Narayana Health, where he was under treatment, could not find matching stem cells among the nearly 3 lakh donors registered in India. They finally found a potential donor in the German registry. Thanks to a 26-year-old German national, the boy has now got a new lease of life after he was transfused healthy stem cells from the donor.
Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Health, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and MD, Biocon Ltd., with children who have undergone bone marrow transplant, in Bengaluru on Wednesday. (Below) Sam from Kolar.
“When we could not find a donor in Indian registry, we desperately searched for one in all the registries and found a donor in the German registry. Thankfully, this donor was willing to donate bone marrow rather than peripheral blood stem cells, which helped in this case,” said Sharat Damodar, Clinical Director at Mazumdar Shaw Medical Centre and Head, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in Narayana Health.
He said the stem cells were hand carried by a person sent from Germany to the hospital. “There are certain protocols to be followed while transporting the stem cells and all were duly followed,” the doctor said.
The boy, who underwent transplant in October, was discharged last week and all his parameters are normal now. He has resumed his daily activities, said the boy’s father Suresh Balasundaram, a contract employee in a public sector unit.
The boy’s treatment was funded by ESI and partly by crowdsourcing. This is the 1000th bone marrow transplant done at the centre so far. On Wednesday, over 100 unique bone marrow transplant cases were felicitated at an event by Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Health, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon Ltd.
