Survivor of Rare Blood Disease Meets His Donor

In a heart-touching tale, a 40-year-old man from Chennai met his stem cell donor who had saved him from a rare and life-threatening blood disease for the first time, almost two years after the transplantation. DKMS Foundation India, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the fight against blood cancer and other blood disorders, such as thalassemia and aplastic anaemia, helped the donor. The survivor, Samnu John, a marketing manager by profession, has been suffering from unexplained high fevers, swelling, rashes, and crushing fatigue since 2017. The exact reason for the suffering was not determined for several years despite multiple hospital visits. When his blood platelet count fell dangerously low in January 2022, he was rushed to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH). He was then diagnosed with severe aplastic anaemia, a condition in which the bone marrow stops producing sufficient platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells. Since stem cell transplantation is the ideal solution to save the patient, without which the patient might die, the medical team started searching for a suitable donor. No one in his family and friends circle was the right match. After 18 long months, an ideal match was found with 25-year-old Paritosh, a resident of New Delhi. Subsequently, a team headed by Dr Aruna Rajendran, Haemato-Oncologist and Bone Marrow Transplant Physician at Madras Medical College/RGGGH, performed the transplantation to restore normal blood cell production. Samnu has since made a full recovery and resumed his work as a marketing manager. In her comments, Dr Aruna said, "Aplastic anaemia is a rare and life-threatening blood disease which can lead to bone marrow failure. It will leave patients vulnerable to infections, uncontrolled bleeding, and exhaustion. A stem cell transplant is the only curative option for these patients. It had taken us almost 18 months to find the exact match for him. I am glad to see him fully recovered from his condition. There are several other patients who are still struggling to find a suitable match. Along with science, we also need a proper system and awareness to make stem cell transplantation possible." Recalling the ordeals he went through for years, Samnu said, "I had to quit two of my jobs because of my severe symptoms. Survival itself was difficult both before and after diagnosis. I was scared both for myself and my family. I was tired of waiting for my donor. It was during those darkest days that we managed to find the right match through the DKMS Foundation." Paritosh, a long-time blood donor, had signed up with DKMS Foundation India years earlier after hearing about a family desperately searching for a donor for their own loved one. He least expected that he would receive a call requesting him to donate stem cells. Paritosh said: "I felt a deep sense of responsibility when I got the call. Just like everyone else, even I thought stem cell donation required an open surgery and long recovery. But that's not the case. Stem cells are collected from our arms. I hope this meeting debunks the myths around stem cell donation." Paritosh, who had flown from New Delhi for the meeting, said, "I have thought about him every day since I got that call. Seeing him healthy, working, and living his life with his children is all I ever hoped for." Patrick Paul, Executive Chairman, DKMS Foundation India, said, "Patients in Tamil Nadu face distinct genetic and socio-economic barriers in finding a match. When more people from Tamil Nadu register as potential stem cell donors, especially from under-represented communities, we don't just improve match probabilities on a registry spreadsheet but also change the odds for every child and adult waiting for a transplant." Through Samnu and Paritosh's story, DKMS Foundation India hopes to raise awareness of severe aplastic anaemia and encourage more people to register as blood stem cell donors, a simple process that can one day give someone a second chance at life. Since matched sibling donors are very scarce, many rely on unrelated donor registries like the one maintained by DKMS Foundation India to find a genetic match. Individuals aged between 18 and 55 years who are in good general health, have a BMI below 40, and are not already registered are eligible to sign up as potential blood stem cell donors. Register at https://www.dkms-india.org/register-now