HYDERABAD: City-based businessman Gurmukh Singh is no more restless these days. Nightmares over his four-year-old son Gurudev's thalassemic disorder are likely to fade away soon.

The ray of hope for Gurudev comes after Mr. Singh learnt about a major transplantation procedure that could give his son a new lease of life. And the procedure has been made possible by a step very few in the city even know of.

Mr. Singh had decided recently to go for umbilical cord blood preservation of his four-month-old daughter so that her stem cells could come handy at some point of time later. Now they have turned out to be a perfect match with Gurudev's cells.

"Experts have said that transplantation of my daughter's stem cells, which are a perfect match with Gurudev's cells, will help him to lead a better life," Mr. Singh says.

Success stories

The stem cells were collected by city-based Lifecell and cryogenically preserved for future use in Lifecell's Chennai storage facility. "To transfer the stem cells to Bangkok is a very lengthy process and we are hoping that in another few days they will reach Bangkok. There are several success stories in Bangkok where thalassemia patients are leading a quality life after transplantation of stem cells," says K. P. Rajendra, Lifecell centre head-Hyderabad. His son Gurudev puts up a brave front. "I will be all right after my Bangkok visit. I'm going with my father and he will take care of everything," says the four-year-old.

More and more people have started recognising the importance of storing stem cells of their children. When Lifecell started its operations in December 2004 there were ten persons enrolled. Now the figure has swelled to nearly 300. "It's medical insurance and that's the reason I went for it. Stem cell research is going places and it will be useful in future," says Satish Agarwal, Secretary, Twin Cities Jewellers Association.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail