Sister plays messiah, saves little bro with her stem cells

Bengaluru: Young Shahad Ahmed Fuliass had no idea what stem cells were, nor how they could be taken from her and given to little brother Abdul Rahman. She just knew that if she gave them, Rahman could play with her again.
Shahad, 6, was scared of hospital and getting hurt. But she went through it bravely, and gave her sibling probably the best gift ever. Rahman, 4, battling the rare disease aplastic anemia, recently underwent bone marrow transplantation at BGS Global Hospital, Bengaluru, and is now on the road to recovery.
The family from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is relieved. “She says she’s happy she saved Rahman. They both smile and that’s the best moment for us,” says father Ahmed Qasem.
Rahman was diagnosed with aplastic anemia two years ago. The disease in the bone marrow damages blood stem cells, and the body stops producing enough new blood cells. The disease affected 5-10 in a million children.
The boy’s ill-health shook up Ahmed Qasem, a businessman, and wife Nabilah Mohamad Ali. Of their brood of six children, they had lost their second daughter to the same disease years ago.
Doctors in Bengaluru told them to go for a bone marrow transplant for Rahman, where stem cells from a matching donor are transplanted.
“In this condition, it’s the HLA or Human Leucocyte Antigen, a group of genes that has to match between the donor and recipient. We found the patient’s sister Shahad could be a matching donor, as their HLA matched. The family agreed and Rahman was given chemotherapy for six days. Stem cells were harvested from Shahad using an apheresis machine. These were infused into Rahman immediately after,” said Dr Sachin Jadhav, head, Bone Marrow Transplantation, who operated on the siblings in September 26, 2014.
After this, Rahman had to undergo platelet transfusion. To protect him from any bacterial infection, even the air circulating in the bone marrow transplant unit was filtered.
Rahman tolerated the treatment well and 15 days after the transplant, the new marrow showed signs of growth. White blood cells and platelets in his blood started increasing.
The causes of this unique disorder are yet to be traced. “It can be caused by exposure to chemicals, drugs, radiation, infection, immune disease and heredity; in about half the cases, the cause is unknown,” said Dr Jadhav.