Three-year-old Dubai expat needs urgent bone marrow transplant

Dubai: Parents of a three-year-old Indian girl suffering from an aggressive form of leukaemia and urgently needs a bone-marrow transplant have appealed for help.

Rhona Sebastian needs an immediate bone marrow transplant to survive, doctors of Dubai Hospital said. Rhona was diagnosed with T Cell Lymphoblastic Leukaemia just three months ago in September, had a relapse in between her treatment and she can live only after a bone-marrow transplant.

Dr Hani Humaid of Dubai Hospital’s Department of Oncology told Gulf News: “Rhona’s Leukaemia is particularly aggressive and we put her in high-risk protocol. Usually patients who have a white blood cell count of beyond 50,000 are put in this category. Rhona came to us with a WBC count of 400,000 and very low platelet count. She responded very poorly to cortisone treatment and received two cycles of chemotherapy but had a relapse between the treatment indicating her a very aggressive kind of leukaemia. Her chances of survival are 50-50 with this kind of transplant.”

Rhona’s parents Sebastian Joseph, 35, and Rencymol Sebastian, 30, are desperately trying to raise Dh250,000 required for the surgery to be carried out at the Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre in Bengaluru, India. The doctors have advised them to get the surgery done in India or the US.

Joseph who works with a construction company told Gulf News: “We could have never imagined that our lively little girl could be suffering from cancer. She began complaining of severe stomach ache in August and my wife, Rencymol who is an assistant nurse at Dubai Hospital took her for a routine gastro consultation. However, the blood reports came back with the diagnosis of leukaemia and since then she [Rhona] has been through two chemotherapy cycles with at least 13 sessions since September 2015. Doctors thought the disease was in remission, but on December 8, a bone marrow investigation revealed her condition had relapsed. There is no other hope but for my bone marrow to be transplanted into her as I have the best tissue match with her. The treatment and the three month stay will cost us approximately Dh250,000 and we are desperate to save Rhona’s life.”

“I would like to see my daughter smile and laugh once again. She is a brave girl and I want to give her this chance. My husband’s bone marrow is a six on ten match and this Indian hospital can do this haplo identical transplant which does not require a 100 per cent match. This is our only chance to cure Rhona and we appeal to the generosity of UAE residents to give her this chance of survival,” said Rencymol. 

Haplo identical bone marrow transplant

According to the John Hopkins Institute physicians that have developed this new procedure where a hundred per cent tissue match with the donor is not required. The new procedure looks for a half-matched tissue for a bone-marrow for transplant and instead of wiping out the recipients immune system, just provides sufficient chemotherapy to partially suppress it.

As a result the recipient has reduced side effects. After the surgery the patient is given several immuno-suppressant medicines and anti-viral injections to keep infection at bay until their body begins making its own healthy bone marrow.

This haplo identical bone marrow transplant holds out great hope for patients as it expands the pool of donors with partially-matched bone marrow of family members being used in the transplant greatly improving chances of survival for the patient.