Coimbatore: Kovai man gives stem cells, saves life of leukaemia victim
COIMBATORE: Coimbatore-based Gurumoorthi donated his blood stem cells and saved the life of Garima Saraswat, a 34-year-old HR professional working in Delhi, who was diagnosed with mixed phenotypic acute leukemia. Recently, the donor and the recipient came face-to-face at an event here to celebrate the spirit of giving.
Garima, mother of a six-year old led a busy life until December 2016, when she was diagnosed with mixed phenotypic acute leukemia. Suffering from a very aggressive form of cancer, doctors recommended blood stem cell transplant immediately to save her life.
She was lucky to find a match through ‘Datri’, India’s adult unrelated blood stem cell donors' registry, last February. The procedure was performed, giving her a new lease of life. Garima, full of gratitude said,
“Special thanks to the donor who donated a life to me and my family. Today I am living a second life.”
Gurumoorthi, a 27-year old mechanic by profession, registered as a donor in October 2016 at the ‘Masonic Clinic Coimbatore’. His family lost their daughter when she was just three-years-old. In a rendezvous with Garima's family, Gurumoothi's family saw their daughter in Garima.
Present on the occasion, Ms Vinita Srivastava, coordinator, National Blood Cell, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said, “Government of India is determined to take up this cause. We are already working towards helping children with sickle cell disease, thalassemia and aplastic anemia. Till date we have supported 61 such cases. We plan to collaborate with existing registries in the country like Datri.”
As per the registry protocol, the identity of donors and recipients are kept anonymous for one year. Both the recipient and donor expressed their desire to meet each other. So when the doctors declared that the patient was completely cured, ‘Datri’ facilitated a meeting between the two and their families. The event was to celebrate and acknowledge the ‘selfless giver’ and the ‘courageous spirit’ of the recipient who waded through all adversities.
“Such occasions further motivate our team to work harder in finding a match for every patient in need. There are over 1,800 patients on Datri’s waiting list, anticipating a match,” said Raghu Rajagopal, co-founder and CEO ‘Datri’, stressing the need to expand the registry. ‘Datri’has done over 50 camps in Coimbatore so far.
