This patient was diagnosed to have Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Nov 2005.
He was treated with chemotherapy (totally one induction cycle with daunorubicin + cytarabine following which he went into remission followed by 4 cycles of high dose cytarabine consolidation chemotherapy).
He was in and out of the hospital for 7 months at that time.
Ideally a matched related transplant would have the highest chances of cure; however his only brother was not a match, so he proceeded with the only option for cure available to him at that time, namely chemotherapy.
Things were going on fine…..a year passed…….he had a baby boy……then another year passed…..and he breathed……thought it was over…till a few days ago.
This patient was diagnosed to have a relapse of the Leukemia on a routine blood test….and so it begins….
He just went through induction chemotherapy at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore.
His Bone Marrow Biopsy is due 2 weeks from now to confirm remission.
His hemato-oncologist is Dr. Ashish Dixit, a truly wonderful, caring physician.
He recommends that his patient undergo a Matched Unrelated Donor Bone Marrow Transplant to ensure sustained remission as chemotherapy alone is unlikely to cure the disease at this point.
Unfortunately, unrelated transplants are not being done in India as we do not have a well established donor registry plus we do not have the facility for high resolution HLA typing which ensures that the donor selected matches closest to this patient otherwise potentially life threatening complications may occur.
His doctor has advised that we consider the US or Singapore for the transplant.
The transplant costs are very high: 250,000-500,000 US dollars is the lowest estimate in the US. Singapore would be approximately half the cost.
We are considering Singapore as an option as long as we are able to garner the funds required. His doctor says that the favourable aspects of this patient’s case are that he’s young and that the relapse has happened very late (3 years later).
There is a good chance that he will be cured of this terrible disease with the transplant.
Thanks to the support of family and friends so far, we’ve been able to reach halfway with the target of Rs. 100 lakhs. We still have a long way to go……
If you can support us in any way, please do so.
Also, if you know anyone who’d be interested in supporting us through this crazy time……please let them know.
If anyone is interested in helping then please answer this. i will supply you with the details of the hospital where he has to undergo this procedure. You can send the money over there directly to the hospital with the patients name. Please pray for his speedy recovery.