Bone-marrow volunteers come forward

THIRTY-SIX Windhoekers have joined the South African Bone Marrow Registry after reading about the plight of young cancer patient Thirene Basson.

Basson (16) was diagnosed with leukaemia eight months ago and initially responded well to treatment, but recently suffered a relapse. She urgently needs a bone-marrow transplant to save her life.After hearing about the call for possible donors, Wilma van Rhyn phoned her friends and colleagues and within four hours she had 36 volunteers and N$6 000 to pay for the registration.”My daughters go to the same school as Thirene and with a simple blood sample we might be able to save her life,” van Rhyn said.The blood tests are done free of charge by PathCare laboratories on Mondays and Thursdays.Registering with the Bone Marrow Registry costs N$250 per person.People who go for the blood tests are registered with the South African Bone Marrow Registry and will be contacted if they prove to be a match for anyone needing a transplant in Namibia or South Africa.If a match is found, the donor is flown to Cape Town for a week, where he or she receives a series of five injections over five days to increase his or her blood platelet count.The transplant is not a painful or dangerous procedure for the donor.The donor is hooked up to a machine that harvests bone-marrow cells from his blood, which is then returned to his body.This process takes about two to three hours.Afterwards, the donor spends two days in hospital to make sure that his platelet count is back to normal.The Delta Secondary School, where Basson is a pupil, has raised N$9 000 for potential donors who would like to be tested but cannot afford the registration fee.Aspen Pharma Care has also donated N$3 000 for the same purpose.Interested people who want further information are welcome to contact Carol Semedo of the NamPharm Foundation.She urgently needs a bone-marrow transplant to save her life.After hearing about the call for possible donors, Wilma van Rhyn phoned her friends and colleagues and within four hours she had 36 volunteers and N$6 000 to pay for the registration.”My daughters go to the same school as Thirene and with a simple blood sample we might be able to save her life,” van Rhyn said.The blood tests are done free of charge by PathCare laboratories on Mondays and Thursdays.Registering with the Bone Marrow Registry costs N$250 per person.People who go for the blood tests are registered with the South African Bone Marrow Registry and will be contacted if they prove to be a match for anyone needing a transplant in Namibia or South Africa.If a match is found, the donor is flown to Cape Town for a week, where he or she receives a series of five injections over five days to increase his or her blood platelet count.The transplant is not a painful or dangerous procedure for the donor.The donor is hooked up to a machine that harvests bone-marrow cells from his blood, which is then returned to his body.This process takes about two to three hours.Afterwards, the donor spends two days in hospital to make sure that his platelet count is back to normal.The Delta Secondary School, where Basson is a pupil, has raised N$9 000 for potential donors who would like to be tested but cannot afford the registration fee.Aspen Pharma Care has also donated N$3 000 for the same purpose.Interested people who want further information are welcome to contact Carol Semedo of the NamPharm Foundation.