It was an emotional moment on Thursday for 28-year-old Naval Chaudhary, an IT professional from Bengaluru when he met six-year-old Fateh Singh of Amritsar.
Mr. Chaudhary, who is the first unrelated bone marrow donor in the country, was able to give a new lease of life to Fateh Singh a year ago.
Happy moment
“Till today, I did not know to whom I had donated my bone marrow. I felt connected with the cute and adorable boy. It is very rare for the bone marrow of unrelated persons to match. I am happy that I could be of help to the little boy,” an emotional Mr. Chaudhary told The Hindu .
Fateh was diagnosed with Thalassemia Major at the age of one-and-a-half. During the first blood transfusion, it was discovered that his body was unable to produce antibodies. He required an urgent blood stem cell transplant, said Sunil Bhat, Paediatric Haemato-Oncologist at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre, who conducted the bone marrow transplant in May 2016.
Mr. Chaudhary had registered with the DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry in 2015 at a camp held in his workplace. Within a year of registering, he received a call from DATRI informing him that he was a perfect match for a six-year-old suffering from an acute form of Thalassemia who required an urgent blood stem cell transplant.
As per the registry protocol, the identity of donors and recipients is kept anonymous for one year and DATRI facilitates the meeting after one year. The parents of Fateh Singh were full of gratitude for Mr. Chaudhary. “You are our saviour and a part of our family now,” said a visibly moved Neeta Singh, the boy’s mother.
