German man donates bone marrow cells to a 10-year-old Karnataka boy

BENGALURU: A 10-year-old boy from Kolar who had been suffering from aplastic anaemia, a condition in which the body does not produce enough blood cells, has got a new lease of life, by the grace of a 26-year-old German.

The bone marrow cells of Sam S, a Class 5 student, had matched perfectly with the German when the doctors had searched for in the international donor registries. The boy, who has undergone bone marrow transplant (BMT) on October 8 at the Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre which is located at the Narayana Health City, is gradually getting back to his normal life.

“It’s a blessing. We had reached a state of hopelessness when Sam’s platelet count was just 5,000, which is in lakhs in normal people. Added to that, there were no symptoms that alerted us. In July, when he was getting ready for school, we noticed his lips had become yellowish. When we consulted local doctors, blood tests were done and we realised that his platelet count was declining,” said Jhansi Suresh, Sam’s mother.

After finding the German donor, the transplant was conducted with the funds from Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) and crowdsourcing.

However, the family does not possess any knowledge about the donor, other than his nationality. As per the rulebook, the identity of the donor must not be disclosed for a year after the surgery. The bone marrow cells had been airlifted from Germany to Bengaluru.