Mai Duong never takes her time with her daughter for granted — she understands how fragile life is and how quickly it can be taken away. She is particularly aware of her mortality because she has been diagnosed with leukaemia twice and beaten the disease twice.
Mrs Duong is alive today thanks to cord blood stem cells, which have restored her body’s ability to generate healthy blood cells after a many cancer treatments.
She was first diagnosed with leukaemia after a routine pregnancy-related blood test. Because she was fighting an aggressive form of leukaemia, she was forced to terminate the baby. Mai had to face the loss of a child at the same time a the diagnosis of a very dangerous form of leukaemia, a very difficult and emotional situation.
Mai said she knew fighting the leukaemia would be difficult, but did not appreciate how much pain and stress would be involved. Her immune system was so weakened by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, that she had to spend weeks in in an isolation room. Through this difficult time, Mai focussed on her daughter Alice.
The search for a bone marrow donor began, but unfortunately a match could not be found. Despite a huge database of 25 million bone marrow donors around the world, Mai’s chances were 1 in 20,000 of finding a match because she is Asian.
Her oncologist suggested using cord blood stem cells. Because these cord blood stem cells are less mature, they are less likely to trigger rejection by the recipient’s immune system. That means finding a suitable donor is much easier.
During this time Mai’s husband was a source of constant support. He never gave up hope and was a rock for Mai.
In October of 2014 Mai received a transplant using cord blood stem cells. It has helped her body recover from the aggressive cancer treatments. However, she has a long road ahead — Mai still has a weakened immune system and must be careful to avoid exposure to people with contagious illnesses for two years. However, for Mai it was all worth it because she gets to see her daughter again.
Source: ‘I’ve been very lucky’: Mai Duong doing well 7 months after stem cell transplant
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