Meeting Tim Dutta was truly inspiring. Because he is one of those people who threw aside his career to find a miracle cure for his leukaemia-ridden wife, Pia. After a tough battle, they did find a cure, and guess what, they also found a cause!
A li'l bit of history first. Pia was just 27 when she was diagnosed with Leukaemia. Although she was declared cancer-free after several rounds of chemotherapy, she suffered a relapse in 2003. Doctors said her best chance of surviving the relapse was an aggressive round of chemotherapy, followed by a stem-cell transplant. Healthy stem-cells from donor blood would be transfused into her body to generate new healthy blood cells. This, after her own blood cells were destroyed by chemotherapy, to accept the new stem cells.
Finding a match for the stem-cell donation was a tough one, as very few South Asians were registered in the worldwide bone marrow registry. But Tim's perseverance paid off, when in 2004, Pia finally found a match. Pia and Tim spent six months in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and the match worked! Pia recovered!
Ever since, Tim has been trying hard to build a stem-cell registry for South Asians. And assisting him in this venture are various corporates in the country. If you want to more about matchpia and how you can help, click here!
No comments:
Post a Comment