Saved By Your Stem Cell

Debojyoti Banik

Donated his stem cell to a two-and-a-half-year-old girl

Fear, anxiety and helplessness rushed through Saifullah when a doctor in his village in West Bengal told him that his 18-month-old daughter, Shia, has blood cancer. That was in 2016 and prior to that he has never heard of this disease. He was told that blood transfusion every fortnight or so is the only way out to keep her alive. Saifullah didn바카라�t give up hope and took her to the 바카라�big city doctors바카라�, who advised that stem cell transplant can get off the cancer permanently. There바카라�s a cure! And he almost jumped with joy. But then the process of getting to that cure was baffling for a villager with limited cognitive skills. Yet, as Andy Dufresne of Shawshank Redemption would say: 바카라�Hope is a good thing, may be the best of the things. And good thing never dies.바카라� Hope was waiting for Saif and his daughter about a 100 km away.

ALSO READ:

In 2007, a 14-year-old Debojyoti Banik in Calcutta took a pledge after his mother survived thyroid cancer바카라�that he would donate his stem cells to save lives. 바카라�Since my mom바카라�s cancer was detected at an early stage, she had an operation and rec­overed successfully. The whole experience was traumatic for the family,바카라� he says. Years went by and Debojyoti bec­ame a software developer. The opportunity to keep his promise came in 2015 when DKMS-BMST, a stem cell registry, organised a camp at his office in Odisha. 바카라�I came to know that there are over 10,000 types of match criteria with a patient and there is a rare chance that I will become a suitable match for anyone,바카라� he says.

It didn바카라�t take long for Debojyoti to keep the second part of his pledge바카라�to become a saviour. 바카라�In 2017, I got a call from DKMS-BMST. They said my stem cell matches that of a thalassaemia patient,바카라� he recollects. But he didn바카라�t know who he was saving because donor-patient identities are concealed from each other for two years. Debojyoti didn바카라�t hesitate.

He was taken to Narayana Hospital in Bangalore (where he is currently based) and put through a series of tests to asc­ertain whether he was disease-free and fit. On D-Day, he was 바카라�excited and optimistic바카라�. The procedure was simple and he didn바카라�t feel any pain or contract any complications. His stem cell was transported to a Chennai hospital and it was transplanted on Shia. On February 4, 2020, Debojyoti met four-and-a-half-year-old Shia, a bubbly bundle of joy, when DKMS-BMST orgnanised a donor-patient meet in Bangalore. He couldn바카라�t summon up words as he hugged the little girl and she sat in his lap. His message:  바카라�Do get yourself registered, give your stem cell and save someone바카라�s life.바카라�

바카라�My life is a gift from a London-based NRI.바카라�

Vansh Adhlakha

Harshil Arora of London donated his stem cell to the Panipat boy

In 2006, two years after his birth, Vansh Adhlakha of Haryana바카라�s Panipat was diagnosed with thalassaemia. And for the next 10 years, his father, a businessman, took him for blood transfusions every 20 days. 바카라�It was painful for me and my family,바카라� says Vansh, who is now 16. Normally, thalassaemia patients find a stem cell match within their families바카라�parents or sibling. Vansh바카라�s sister volunteered in 2010, but that didn바카라�t work out. 바카라�In 2016, my father registered with DKMS-BMST for a donor and I was lucky to get one within three months,바카라� he says.

But his donor, Harshil Arora, was thousands of miles away. The UK-based lawyer had registered for stem cell donation at a London agency in 2015. Arora바카라�s sample matched, he went through a peripheral blood stem cell collection (a non-surgical outpatient procedure similar to platelet donation), a vial was shipped out of Britain, and Vansh was readied for transplant at Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, in 2017. 바카라�I was admitted for around 55 days. After the transplant, my life changed completely,바카라� says Vansh, who now leads an active, healthy, normal life바카라�바카라�a new life바카라�, as he would call it.

A couple of years later, in July 2019, Arora flew in from London to meet Vansh. 바카라�It was a wonderful experience. I got to know that our interests match too바카라�like guitar, gardening etc. He is no blood relative but more than that. This life is his gift. I pray for him,바카라� says the teenager, choking almost. For his part, Arora says people should come forward to donate stem cells bec­ause when so little effort is required to do such a positive thing, why not?

바카라�We are indebted to a German who saved my daughter바카라�s life바카라�

Japishman바카라�s mom Harpreet

Fabian Lapper of Germany saved Japishman with his stem cell

The family바카라�s heart broke when six-month-old Japishman was diagnosed with thalassaemia in 2005. Wait. The doctor said wheatgrass juice helps in maintaining the blood count and so be it, the desperate family in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, would take any straw in the wind that came by. Mother Harpreet began cultivating wheat all seasons바카라�in air-conditioned greenhouses when it was too warm or cold바카라�for a steady supply of juice from the young shoots. This went on for six years, but Japishman was not growing. At eight, she looked like a four-year-old. 바카라�The doctor advised us blood transfusion,바카라� says Harpreet, who runs a computer learning institute with her husband.

In 2013, during a visit to Ludhiana, Harpreet came to know about stem cell transplant. Japishman was nine when tests were done to match her bother and parents바카라� stem cell type with hers. The results came negative, the family was shattered and she stared at a lifetime of blood transfusions. Wait, again. What about an unrelated donor? The family contacted DKMS-BMST in 2014 and within a month, she got a match in Germany. They paid Rs 32 lakh for the procedure, of which about Rs 9 lakh went to DKMS-BMST. 바카라�The registry doesn바카라�t pay the donor, but their operative cost is quite high. In our case, it helped ship the stem cell from Germany to India,바카라� Harpreet says.

In July 2014, Japishman got a new life at Christian Medical College, Ludhiana. Two years later, DKMS-BMST disclosed the name of the good soul바카라�Fabian Lapper, a 24-year-old German who worked on a cruise ship. The family found him on a social networking site and communicated with him through Google translator:  English to German, German to English. 바카라�Now he has learned English a bit,바카라� Harpreet says. 바카라�We haven바카라�t met but are in touch, always. We share our daughter바카라�s picture through WhatsApp.바카라�

On September 27, as she blew the candles on her birthday cake, there were two names written on it with icing sugar: Japishman and Lapper. Well, they share the same blood group and were born on the same day. Japishman is in Class 9 and she wishes to visit Germany some day. And tell her saviour: Danke!

바카라�I am eager to meet the girl I donated my stem cell to.바카라�

Mohit Sirohi

He helped save a three-year-old girl in Chennai

Mohit Sirohi of Kurukshetra in Haryana was sceptical when he got a call from DATRI a few months after he registered as a stem cell donor in May 2018. He was told that a match has been found and he has to go to Delhi for medical tests. All of a sudden, reports of organ transplant frauds that headline newspapers flashed across his eyes. 바카라�These happen in big cities like Delhi. I didn바카라�t want to be duped, lose my kidney or something. I decided to do my research on DATRI and stem cell transplant,바카라� says the 23-year-old. He asked for time and googled the organisation바카라�s credentials and discussed with doctors about any side-effects from the procedure. 바카라�I have three sisters and my father works in the Haryana transport department. I have family responsibilities. I wouldn바카라�t risk harming my life.바카라� His investigation helped and he was convinced about its safety.

A month before the process last year, Sirohi turned up in Delhi바카라�s B.L. Kapoor Hospital, where he was examined and he signed a bond that he wouldn바카라�t back off. Preparing a donor involves five shots injected in the stomach every day for as many days, which are, as Sirohi found out, safe and without side-effects. Many potential donors pull out at this stage. 바카라�My back hurt. I couldn바카라�t sleep on my back. I used to lie on my stomach,바카라� Sirohi says. The actual process of extracting his stem cell happened after that and it was over in four-five hours. 바카라�The thought of saving someone바카라�s life makes the whole exercise bearable, enj­oyable. The pain is negligible,바카라� says the man who completed his post-graduation in science from Karnal바카라�s Dayal Singh College this year.

Will he do it again? Yes, and as many times as possible, he says. And whose life did he save? A little girl in Chennai and he is itching to meet her. It was arranged with mutual consent (sometimes the two-year embargo can be relaxed), but the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home restrictions pushed back Sirohi바카라�s dream meeting. 바카라�I have the family바카라�s contact number, but couldn바카라�t get through. I want to meet and bless her for her happy and good life,바카라� he says.

바카라�My younger son donated his stem cell to his brother.바카라�

Gauraksha Saini

The Saini second child saved the thalassaemic firstborn

Of all the fairytales by the Brothers Grimm, Hansel and Gretel could perhaps make a perfect bedtime story at the Saini household in Hyderabad. Sister Gretel saves her brother and herself from a cannibalistic witch. For parents Gauraksha Saini and Anita, the twist in the tale would be younger son saving older son from the witch called thalassaemia major, and the little one was actually born for that purpose. Yes, Mrs Saini conceived a second time in 2015 after the couple learnt that the firstborn has the debilitating genetic disorder and that the 바카라�unborn is the only hope as his stem cell could match his brother바카라�s바카라�. 바카라�There was 30 per cent chance that my unborn child바카라�s stem cell would match, but I had faith and went ahead for a second child,바카라� says Saini who works in a printing press. Wife Anita went through a battery of tests during her pregnancy바카라�just to ensure everything바카라�s normal and no genetic illness is detected in the foetus. 바카라�The doctors confirmed that there바카라�s a 95 per cent chance our second child won바카라�t have any health issues. He was born in 2016 and stem cell matched perfectly with my older son,바카라� Saini recalls.

A second witch springs up in the Saini story: money. Doctors told him the transplant would cost Rs 14 lakh, an unassailable sum for a man of modest income. 바카라�I came to know through Thalassemics India that the health ministry, in collaboration with Coal India, runs a haematopoietic stem cell transplantation programme (HSCT). It is called Thalassaemia Bal Sewa Yojana. They sponsored a huge chunk of the medical expenses,바카라� the relieved father says.

This government scheme provides a one-time assistance up to Rs 10 lakh to patients having stem cell donors within the family. 바카라�It was god바카라�s wish. God kept showing us the way. I appeal to everyone to give their swab sample in any of the registries in India and become a donor. A small step for you will help someone live,바카라� Saini says.