Johannesburg – Bone marrow donations from black people and coloureds are few, while the majority of patients who need them are from these race groups.
According to Dr Candice Hendricks, most bone marrow and stem cell donors are white, but most patients are black or of mixed race in South Africa.
She said it was important to educate and motivate black South Africans and those of mixed race to register and donate to help the thousands of children who are diagnosed and sometimes die because of blood cancer.
Relating her story, Hendricks, who is 37 and originally from Durban, said her innate passion had always been to help people and look after children, therefore she became a doctor.
But she felt helpless eight and- a-half years ago when her younger brother almost died.
After seeing her younger brother diagnosed and suffering through leukaemia, Hendricks changed her focus to paediatric haematology, focusing on blood disorders, particularly in children.
“I was in my second year of training when he became suddenly ill … But we were of the lucky few as my sister was a donor and he recovered after he was transplanted. But it’s a long road of recovery, even as an adult, you have to get all your childhood vaccinations again.” She said donations also came from family and siblings, but that sometimes these were not a match and therefore they looked to other donations, which was very low.
“Cancers among children remain rare, but it is a devastating reality. I have personally had to deal with a patient’s loss and there are very few things that are more devastating.”
Last year, she joined the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Pretoria as part of the haematopoietic stem cell research team.
Her goal, she said, was to increase the availability of stem cell treatments by establishing a public umbilical cord stem cell bank.
“It is my hope that a public umbilical cord blood bank be initiated in South Africa, therefore allowing more children access to life-saving transplants. Also, to educate that children a few months old can become ill and die if such blood diseases are not caught early.”
And because children can’t put their pain into words, Hendricks said parents should look out for the following symptoms: “Paleness, unexplained fatigue, limping because pain starts in the bone. Cancer starts here and spills into the bloodstream.”
Urgent transplant needed
A Durban family is seeking help for its 10-year-old daughter Kyra Ramdin (pictured), who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in October last year.
After signs of weight loss, loss of hair and appetite, exhaustion and a burning pain in her bones, she started chemotherapy but her mother, Michelle, said the family urgently needs to find a donor match for a blood cell stem transplant as Kyra’s younger sister is not a match.
Without a match in her own family, Kyra requires an unrelated match, but the chances of finding a donor match are 1:100 000.
In a bid to raise funds and awareness for those who are suffering from blood disorders and cancers, DKMS Africa is embarking on its annual Sunflower Day campaign on September 17.
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