It was an emotional moment on Thursday for haemotologist Shruti Kakkar and IT professional Prakash Kumar when they met five-year-old Vanshika Rohra and three-year-old Disha K.G., recipients of their blood stem cells.
Dr. Kakkar and Mr. Kumar, who saved the lives of the two children by donating their stem cells, met them for the first time during PHOCON 2018, an annual Paediatric Haematology Oncology Conference, on Tuesday.
Thanks to the donation, the two were cured of severe blood disorders, thalassemia in case of Vanshika and Hurler’s Syndrome in the case of Disha. The donations were facilitated through DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry.
The conference was a perfect platform for the donor-recepient meet as doctors from across the country witnessed the emotional connect between the families of the two recipients and their lifesavers. In fact, many members of the audience became emotional and were seen wiping tears.
Expressing his gratitude, G.K. Gowri Shankar, father of Disha, said, “When the disease was detected in our daughter, she was already one-and-a-half years old. When doctors told us that our daughter had to undergo the transplant within two years, we lost hope of finding a donor. But, if we have our daughter with us today, it is only because of the donor, DATRI and the doctors who supported us. I am falling short of words to thank each one of them.”
Prakash Kumar (who celebrated his birthday on Thursday) said meeting Disha was his best birthday gift. Revathi Raj, Paediatric Hemato-Oncologist from Chennai and Disha’s transplant physician, said 81 of her patients had found their matching donors through DATRI.
An emotional Neeraj Rohra, father of Vanshika, who was born with Thalassemia Major, narrated how painful the frequent blood transfusions were. “We had been desperately hoping to find a lifesaving donor, and DATRI came to our rescue. Today, my daughter is living a normal life, thanks to the donor doctor,” he said.
Vanshika’s transplant surgeon Santanu Sen, Consultant in Paediatrics and Paediatric Oncology at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai, said, “If we fail to get any donors within the family, we often bank upon registries like DATRI to get an unrelated donor.”
Donation by doctor for the first time
For the first time in India, a haematologist has donated blood stem cells to an unknown recipient. Shruti Kakkar, a 37-year-old doctor had registered with DATRI during a drive at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana in May 2017. Within four months of registering, she was found to be a perfect match for Vanshika Rohra.
