Nadia had a stem cell transplant on Feb 24, 2014. We had a partial cord blood match and ran out of time to find a better match. Dyskeratosis congenita patients are extra-sensitive to the pre-transplant chemotherapy routine. Strong chemotherapy drugs are required to get the body ready to accept some-one elses’ stem cells with minimal complications, Nadia’s extra sensitivity means they can’t use the full set of chemotherapy drugs, so there are more risks with the transplant failing, especially with a non-perfect match.
But you can still help! Here are four things you can do to help people just like Nadia:
1. Please register to be a bone marrow donor at your local blood collection site or online. While you might not be a match for Nadia, you could end up helping a little boy or girl just like her. It doesn’t take much more than signing a form and quickly swabbing the inside of your mouth; it’s free and painless. You can even order the kit online! Matches can be worldwide, which increases the odds of finding a matching donor. For information on how to register, please visit the site for the registry in your country:
Canada – OneMatch.ca
US
Other Countries
2. Support the cord blood registry. Help Canadian Blood Services raise money to support a national cord blood registry, check out www.campaignforcanadians.ca.
3. Please encourage everyone you know to sign up for the bone marrow donor registry and support the cord blood registry. Feel free to share this website and Nadia’s facebook page with as many people as you can.
4. Become a blood donor. When Nadia was born, she had a couple of platelet transfusions. During the transplant she needed another 10 blood transfusions. There are a shortage of blood donors and every drop counts.