BENGALURU: After getting a second chance at life, a thalassemia survivor from the city, 17-year-old Chirag, met his stem cell donor who flew halfway across the globe to see him on Wednesday.
Roman Simnizki, a 29-year-old from Münsingen in Germany, said, “There’s no greater joy than knowing you’ve helped someone in need. Seeing Chirag healthy and full of life is the biggest reward.”
Chirag battled thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder that significantly impacts patients’ quality of life, for most of his childhood. He had to endure fatigue and other health complications along with regular blood transfusions. For ten years, his family tirelessly searched for an unrelated donor. Their efforts were finally fruitful in 2016, when a perfect match was found in Roman through the DKMS (Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei) database.
“The most exciting moment of my life was when I got to know there was a match. I used to go to school, come back for transfusions, and go back to school again. So the change was scary,” Chirag replied, when asked about his initial reaction to a matching donor.
Now leading a healthy life, from playing basketball to preparing for IIT, Chirag says he aims to give back to society in the smallest of ways.
Dr Revathi Raj, Paediatric Haematologist, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, and Chirag’s physician, says, “There is a significant burden of thalassemia in our country, as more than 10,000 children are born with the disease every year. Beta-thalassemia major is a severe form of the disease that requires regular blood transfusions and, potentially, a stem cell transplant for a cure.”
He hoped that more people like Roman register as potential stem cell donors so more patients could undergo lifesaving stem cell transplants.
To register as a potential stem cell donor, one must be between 18 and 55 years of age, and give a swab test from the inside of the cheeks to collect tissue cells.
The tissue sample is then sent to the lab to be analyzed for HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen). It is then listed anonymously on the international search platform for matching stem cell donors.