Born in a family of a mother who is a first-generation Korean immigrant and a father from France, Miss Maxine is in desperate need of finding a stem cell donor.
Last September, Miss Maxine was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia in Oklahoma. She is currently admitted to a hospital in France to receive a blood transfusion until she finds a donor whose stem cells in the bone marrow are compatible with Miss Maxine’s.
Aplastic anemia is a condition in which the tissue of bone marrow stops producing new blood cells. A lack of blood cells leads to a deficiency of red blood cells, white blood cells, and thrombocytes in the body, eventually causing the patient to become prone to infections and uncontrolled bleeding. Aplastic anemia is caused by an abnormality of the body’s immune system where it attacks its own tissues and hematopoietic cells.
A severe condition of aplastic anemia requires a transplant of stem cells from a donor. The donor has to test histocompatibility (HLA, Human Leukocyte Antigen) with the recipient prior to the transplant procedure. Although the recipient’s siblings have the highest chance of compatibility with the donor, the patient has to search for an unrelated donor when no relatives match for HLA.
Judy, Ms. Maxine’s aunt, is appealing for help in New Jersey. “We need to find a donor to stop her condition from worsening. This is really urgent,” she said.
The similarity in race and ethnicity is known to have a higher probability of HLA-matches. But there currently are only a few numbers of Koreans who have yet signed up for bone marrow stem cell donation.
Stem cells are many times harvested from blood nowadays, and the donor may stay awake during the procedure, which is similar to blood donation, by temporarily removing the blood of the donor and separating the stem cells from it. The original procedure requires harvesting stem cells in bone marrow located in the hip bones.
Anyone between the ages of 18 and 40 can be a donor. In order to join the registry, a sample of a cell will be collected by swabbing the inside of a cheek. The sample is used to find an HLA-match donor who is compatible with the recipient’s organ and blood.
You can sign up for donation online by reaching ‘join.bethematch.org’ to fill out the online registry with consent to agreements, and the kit for oral sample collection will be delivered to your door. Then, you will be contacted when there is a patient in need of your help. You can call (800)627-7692 or (484)753-1900 for more information.
by Shim Jong-Min (NY KoreaDaily)
