The prognosis of one-year old leukaemia patient Ana Elena was not good. Ana required a stem cell transplant but only had a 1 in 100,000 chance of finding a match. Miraculously, a match was found in the world donor bank, which gave the toddler a chance at survival.
Ana’s mother Carolina Borges, was overjoyed, saying: “I can not sleep for joy. It’s unbelievable. Unreal too.” Little Ana has spent most of her young life in hospital after being diagnosed with leukaemia at a very young age. She has undergone 5 chemotherapy treatments and was thought to be in remission in August. Unfortunately the cancer returned six weeks later, leaving doctors with one last treatment option — a stem cell transplant.
Finding a compatible stem cell donor can be difficult at the best of times. It was even harder for Ana because she is half-Dutch and half-Brazilian. A spokesman for the Dutch stem cell donor bank Europdonor explained: “In the Netherlands there is a huge shortage of donors, so we looked in the global donor bank. There we found a perfect match for Ana Elena. Making the risk of rejection smaller.”
Ana’s parents don’t know anything about the anonymous stem cell donor apart from the fact that they do not live in the Netherlands. Carolina Borges wants the donor to know how grateful they are, saying “We know nothing about him or her, but we are enormously grateful to this person. We only know that this man or woman does not come from the Netherlands, is currently available, is healthy and said yes. That is the most important thing.”
Ana Elena still faces a long road to recovery. The stem cell transplant will essentially reboot her body’s ability to generate healthy blood cells, which has been compromised by her Leukaemia and ongoing chemotherapy treatments. After the transplant, her immune system will be in a highly weakened state and she will have to spend many weeks in hospital. However, her chances of survival are now much greater thanks to an anonymous stem cell donor.
Source: Random Stem Cell Donor Helps Child Leukemia Patient
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