KOCHI: In connection with the worldwide campaign to find a matching stem cell donor to save the life of Mira, a 2-year-old Indian girl from USA, students and staff of KMEA Engineering College, Edathala near Aluva organised an awareness and donor registration programme on Tuesday. As many as 560 people including the public registered their names in the drive.
The child, Mira, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May last year and was undergoing chemotherapy. In February 2016, her condition worsened and the doctors advised a stem cell transplant. Though the friends and family of the girl have organised a series of donor drives in the US, no suitable match was found. Now, the girl’s parents, Bhavya and Jatin Tuteja, are hopeful of getting a perfect match from India as there are high chances to get a donor from the same ethnicity.
For a transplant to succeed, donors and recipients should have a matching set of genes called Human Leukocyte Antigens. “The registration drive has received encouraging response from both students and the public. The programme was organised with the support of DATRI – a Chennai based stem cell registry. NSS volunteers in the college and members of the pain and palliative care unit have coordinated the programme,” said Sabith Umer, assistant professor, Mechanical Engineering Department.
The college had organised a similar drive two years ago to save a seven-month-old boy and another in which three students had donated their stem cells saving three lives. Ajmal Rahman, one of the donors was also present during the drive.
