Thai-Italian girl, 24, with leukemia needs 'rare' Eurasian bone marrow stem cell transplant to survive

PHUKET: The family of a 24-year-old Chinese-Thai and Italian woman suffering from leukemia has made a public appeal, seeking a relatively-rare, Eurasian stem-cell donor match as one of their last hopes for the girl's survival.

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By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Tuesday 12 January 2016, 10:22AM

After being diagnosed with the disease last month, Lara, a 24-year-old Chinese-Thai and Italian woman was told by doctors that her only hope of survival is if she receives a transplant of stem cells, which can be extracted from the bone marrow of a matching donor.

However, the family has not yet found a match, citing that only three per cent of the existing international bone marrow registry comprises potential donors of mixed-race heritage.

According to her family's appeal posted on match4lara.com, any potential donor can make a difference simply by joining a bone marrow registry, in Thailand and internationally (full list on website link above).

“It's as easy as spitting into a test tube or using a cheek swab. If you turn out to be a match for Lara or one of the 12,000 other people around the world in need, you could save a life,” the appeal reads.

Donors in Thailand can donate through the Thai Red Cross National Blood Center in Bangkok, who though reports having 182,064 donors in its registry, has only found a mere 194 matches for a total of 1,522 terminally ill patients in need of a transplant in the kingdom.

The Red Cross National Blood Centre (RCNBC) in Bangkok told the Phuket News that the first step to becoming a donor is to register and determine your Human Leukocyte Antigen or HLA typing.

Unfortunately, this process is not yet possible in Phuket and requires any/all potential donors to make an appointment at the RCNBC (see details below).

Furthermore, the RCNBC notes that it can take two months to process potential donors and time is not on Lara's side, nor the many others waiting for transplants.

Once determined, the HLA results will be entered into the Donor Registry system which will automatically match recipients with potential donors. Only in the unlikely event that your HLA typing is identified as a potential match will you be contacted by the National Registry.

The staff at the National Blood Center will carefully explain how it all works and ask you to sign a consent form.

For Bangkok, Thailand to register as a donor, you can visit the Thai Red Cross National Blood Center and join the Thai Stem Cell Donor Registry by calling Tel. +66 (2) 256-4300, +66 (2) 252-1637.

Also, for more information about stem cell research in Thailand, visit this link.