Gujarat woman’s stem cells save Canadian’s life

SURAT: Life will find its way, believe it or not. A 40-year-old woman from a nondescript village in Patan district has now turned a life saviour for a patient in Canada suffering from fatal blood disorder.
The stem cells of Daksha Patel that she donated at a special camp in 2013 have matched with the 32-year-old woman and flown to Canada from Ahmedabad in the first week of January.

Patel had registered in a special camp in her village, Aghar in Sarswati taluka of Patan district as a potential donor, not even remotely imagining that one day her swab samples would match with someone in dire need of her life support, that too thousands of miles away.
“I received a call from DATRI informing that my samples matched with a patient suffering from life threatening blood disorder. I did not know anything about stem cell donation when I had given my samples in 2013 and so, I paid no heed to the call. However, I was sensitized about the importance of stem cell donation and more importantly, that I am one of the lucky few who can actually save someone’s life. I realised the necessity of my donation and became ready to donate,” Patel, a homemaker, told TOI.
A mother of a 16-year-old boy, Patel did her masters in arts while her husband Hasmukh Patel has a business. “My husband and other family members supported me in my decision to donate stem cells,” she added.
Jalpa Sukhanandi, head donor recruitment and counselling at DATRI (Gujarat), said, “Daksha has set an example for others by donating her stem cells. Her donation will inspire other women to get them registered with blood stem cell donor registry and help patients save their lives,” said
“Through DATRI, total seven women have so far donated stem cells from Gujarat till now while this number is 91 across the country,” Sukhanandi added.
Interestingly, 23 of the 91 donated stem cells have saved lives in foreign countries so far.