It was a meeting that K.V. Sivaramakrishnan was waiting for, but when he met Pravin Kumar Patel on Friday, he choked on his words.
“How could I say anything?” he said, trying to regain composure. “No ‘thank you’ will express what my family and I feel,” he said.
Mr. Sivaramakrishnan from Malaparamba Housing Colony in Kozhikode, better known as Ramesh among his friends, is now living with B +ve blood with the blood stem cells donated by Mr. Patel from Ahmedabad. He had O +ve blood earlier.
Mr. Sivaramakrishnan underwent blood stem cell transplant in June-July 2014 after he was diagnosed with a blood cancer termed Myelodysplastic Syndrome in January that year. Unable to find a match in the family, they had registered with DATRI, a registry for blood stem cell donors. Mr. Patel had registered as a donor with DATRI in 2012.
Mr. Patel, who was contacted by DATRI, was initially sceptical about possible side effects. But after talking to a doctor and counselling by experts, he took it as an opportunity to save a person’s life. “My family fully supported me in this venture,” he said.
The meeting was organised by DATRI on Friday, its first in the State. According to the registry rules, the identity of the donor and the recipient are kept anonymous for a year.
Inspector General of Police S. Sreejith, who honoured the donor, said he was ashamed that he had not known about blood stem cell donation and the registry till his friend Ramesh was afflicted with the disease. He said he would arrange for an awareness programme for the police force.
“It was a 9/10 match, but for patients who have one option, this is the best shot at life again,” said oncologist Neeraj Sidharthan.
The State, with 29,404 donors, accounts for the highest number of the 1.39 lakh donors with DATRI. The donors from the State facilitated 20 donations.
The non-profit DATRI was set up in 2009 and is an associate of the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide and a member of the World Marrow Donors Association.
