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Story #8 of 50 days, 50 Stories Campaign
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Twenty-six-year-old Priya was found to be a Blood Stem Cell Donor Match for a 1-year-old boy suffering from congenital dyserythropoietic anemia in 2019. DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry team convinced her to donate Blood Stem Cell after many efforts. But, by the time she was convinced, the COVID pandemic took its stroll in India, and we had to hold on to the process as per the Transplant Center instructions.

In 2021, DATRI finally managed to plan the donation by doing her Master’s Health check-up and confirmatory typing as a first step. Her Initial processes were completed in March 2021, and she was all ready to travel to Mumbai for her donation in April. Though there was strong opposition from her family members for the Blood Stem Cell Donation, she traveled from Madhya Pradesh to Mumbai for this purpose.

All the necessary arrangements were made in Mumbai for her donation process. She started getting GCSF Injections. As per DATRI protocol, we do a COVID test for the donor on Day 3 GCSF. During her 3rd day of GCSF, the COVID test was done as she already had flu-like symptoms. The report came COVID-19 positive.

The donation had to be aborted, and the transplant center was informed, and She had to be in Quarantine for 14 days in Mumbai. Her family members panicked, but she was strong, and she overcame it. Since she was the only donor for the patient, we got in touch with her again after a couple of months. She was scared to go ahead, and her family opposed it completely. Our DATRI coordinator made many efforts to convince them by arranging Zoom calls with the family members and doctors. After hours of counseling, they were all convinced and ready to go ahead again to save the little child.

Again, Health Checkup was conducted to check post-COVID-19 infection, and she finally donated her blood stem cell in July 2021.  Kudos to the strong lady who was firm in her decision even though she had to overcome many hurdles and my team members who did not lose hope and patience in convincing each and every member of the donor’s family

DATRI is a Not-for-Profit organization that was founded in 2009 with a mission to save lives of those suffering from life-threatening fatal blood disorders like Blood Cancer, Thalassemia, Leukaemia, Aplastic Anaemia, Sickle Cell Anaemia, etc

DATRI is registered with the Government of India as a Section 8 organization, and all monetary contributions towards DATRI are subject to 80G exemptions

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About the Author:

Saranya Srinivasan has completed her master’s degree in Industrial Biotechnology. She has in-depth knowledge of Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) which plays a vital role in Stem cell Transplant. She is associated with DATRI for more than 5 years. She has been working as a Transplant Center Co-Ordinator and works closely with various National Hospitals and International Registries. She has a deeper understanding of DATRI’s Vision and Mission and works passionately to achieve the organizational goals.