A delighted Mr Lim Wee Kiat assembly his bone marrow recipient, Ho Wen Qing, for the primary time on Sept 21. The Straits Instances/Asia Information Community
SINGAPORE – When Mr Lim Wee Kiat was learning at Nanyang Technological College, he determined to impress a fellow pupil he had a crush on in an uncommon manner – by signing up as a bone marrow donor at a sales space arrange by the Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP).
“She was telling me, ‘Hey, that is one thing that’s good, it is best to enroll’,” he recalled. “I simply wished to impress her, I didn’t even know what it was about.”
That impulsive determination resurfaced about 5 years later, in 2019, when Mr Lim was discovered to be a match for a younger lady battling aplastic anaemia. The extreme situation the place the physique fails to supply ample new blood cells is estimated to have an effect on as much as 4 in each one million individuals and may be deadly if left untreated.
READ: Half-matched bone marrow transplant gives sufferers with an entire lot of hope
The choice to donate his marrow was a straightforward one for Mr Lim, now 32, and in doing so he helped save the lifetime of then four-year-old Ho Wen Qing.
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He was speechless and in tears as he embraced Wen Qing after they met for the primary time on Sept 21 at an occasion organised by the BMDP.
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The 2 have been one among 10 donor-recipient pairs to fulfill on the occasion, which was held at an occasion area within the Bidadari space along side World Marrow Donor Day.
Now 9, Wen Qing stands at lower than 1m tall and weighs about 11kg. She additionally has kidney, imaginative and prescient and listening to issues.
READ: Why may a toddler want bone marrow transplant?
Mr Lim mentioned he “barely felt something” throughout the nine-hour-long donation course of, which concerned the gathering of peripheral blood stem cells. “It was so overwhelming to see somebody and know that individual is alive due to a small motion that you simply did,” mentioned {the electrical} engineer.
Coincidentally, Mr Lim’s college crush, Ms Choo Wan Qi, now his spouse, was additionally recognized as a marrow donor for an additional affected person in 2020. Ms Choo went via with the donation that yr.
Wen Qing’s father, Mr Ho Choong On, a 61-year-old operations supervisor, mentioned: “All this whereas we’ve wished to fulfill the donor. We’ve been ready for the chance to say thanks to him.”
Mr Lim Wee Kiat was speechless and in tears when he embraced his bone marrow recipient, Ho Wen Qing, at an occasion organised by the BMDP. The Straits Instances/Asia Information Community
Additionally assembly for the primary time was Ms Nur Siti Zubaidah, who in 2020, donated her marrow to Ria Nadira, then aged eight.
Ria’s father, Mr Muhamad Rizal Monin, 40, mentioned his daughter was recognized with thalassemia main – an inherited blood dysfunction that impacts the physique’s capability to supply haemoglobin and wholesome pink blood cells – when she was three, after it was discovered that she had an enlarged spleen.
When Ria was 4, she began present process blood transfusion each few months as a result of her low haemoglobin ranges, mentioned Mr Rizal, a security, safety and compliance head.
Bone marrow recipient Ria Nadira assembly her donor, Ms Nur Siti Zubaidah, for the primary time on Sept 21. The Straits Instances/Asia Information Community
The common transfusions had unintended effects similar to elevated ranges of iron in Ria’s blood, and it turned tougher to discover a appropriate vein over time for the process, mentioned Mr Rizal, including that it was a monetary burden on the household.
Noting the household would often see older youngsters and youngsters ready to obtain blood transfusions when Ria went for her procedures, Mr Rizal mentioned it was a blessing after they have been knowledgeable of a possible donor.
“No dad and mom need their youngsters to undergo that, so we’re simply grateful,” he mentioned.
Describing the chance to assist Ria as a “miracle”, Ms Zubaidah mentioned she had signed as much as be a bone marrow donor once more.
“If there’s one other potential match, I need to have the ability to proceed giving ahead,” mentioned the 27-year-old pupil care trainer.
Bone marrow recipient Ria Nadira (third from left) and her household assembly her donor, Ms Nur Siti Zubaidah, on Sept 21. The Straits Instances/Asia Information Community
Malays make up 8 per cent of BMDP’s registry of 123,866 marrow donors, whereas Indians make up about 9 per cent.
BMDP notes {that a} affected person’s greatest likelihood of discovering a donor could possibly be with somebody from the identical ethnicity, as human leukocyte antigen markers – a kind of molecule that performs an essential half within the physique’s immune response – utilized in matching are inherited, with some ethnic teams possessing extra complicated tissue sorts than others.
It urged all eligible members of the general public, particularly Malays and Indians, to register themselves as donors.
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Established in 1993 by Mr Gerald Loong and his spouse after they misplaced their younger son to leukaemia, BMDP is the primary and solely marrow donor registry in Singapore. Over the previous 31 years, the programme has helped facilitate 1,165 affected person transplants and 520 marrow donations.
