Bhavnagar man’s stem cells to save Maharashtra's 14-year-old cancer patient

SURAT: A 14-year-old cancer patient battling for life in Maharashtra could get a new lease of life, thanks to a Bhavnagar businessman whose blood stem cell has matched with her’s.
On Sunday, the 24-year-old donor Harsh Gandhi’s stem cell will be transplanted into this little girl in a hospital in Maharashtra.
In fact, this will be the first stem cell transplant after the nationwide Covid-induced lockdown was clamped on March 23, said Jalpa Sukhanandi, regional head, DATRI, India’s largest unrelated blood stem cells donors registry.
On Saturday, Gandhi travelled all the way from Bhavnagar to Ahmedabad for the process of donating his stem cells that was done in a private hospital. The stem cells were then dispatched through a special vehicle that would travel non-stop to the Maharashtra hospital for transplant into the 14-year-old on Sunday.
“I am very happy that my few hours of travelling will save someone’s life. Though the situation is not advisable for travel, everyone is trying their bit to help the society in this difficult time. So, I to stepped out to save a life,” said a beaming Gandhi, who was accompanied by his wife to Ahmedabad on Saturday.
A staunch believer in the doctrine of Jeev Daya ((compassion towards living beings), Gandhi added that the patient’s condition is critical and the successful transplant would be the most satisfactory moment of his life.
The probability of finding blood stem cell matching donor is only 1 in 10,000 to one in over a million as the total number of voluntary donors registered are very low. There are only a little more than 4.5 lakh blood stem cell donors registered with DATRI, which is less than 0.33% of the total population of India.
Blood stem cell transplants across the country have been stalled due to the lockdown. "There are at least 14 patients who have got matches for blood stem cell across the country, but due to restrictions on movement of vehicles and flight operations, they are stalled.”
During the stem cell donation, all the safety measures in respect of Covid-19 were followed and the DATRI team ensured safety of Gandhi and his family at every step.