Chennai: ‘In India, every five minutes someone is diagnosed with blood cancer or blood disorders,’ says Dr Vikram Mathews, professor and head, Department of Hematology, CMC Vellore.
Pointing out to the case of a 7-month-old from Aurangabad, Bihar, he says, ‘patients like her cannot survive without a lifesaving blood stem cell donation and the search for a donor is the start of a race against time. Blood stem cell collection is similar to a blood platelet donation wherein only your stem cells are taken. This is a safe, non-surgical outpatient procedure. As ethnicity plays an important role in finding the perfect matching blood stem cell donor, it is critical that more Indians should register and raise hope for patients to get a second chance at life.’
DKMS BMST Foundation India, a non-profit organization dedicated to the fight against blood cancer and blood disorders is coordinating the search for a matching donor for the infant.