UK-based Indian techie is conducting a campaign to find stem cell match for his wife battling cancer
Rajee Nedunchezhian, 33, is battling for her life at a hospital in the UK at the moment. To save his wife, who has been given only a few weeks to live by her doctors, Manivannan Ponnusamy is conducting a global campaign (healrajee.org) to find his wife a stem cell donor match to save her life.
“Rajee was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) when she was 12, and has taken a several generation of drugs since 1995,” says Mani, talking to us over the phone from the hospital where he has been at Rajee’s bedside. CML is a type of cancer that affects the blood and the bone marrow.
Despite battling cancer for most of her life, Rajee went on to become a Software Engineer. She has worked with Microsoft and contributed to projects for some of the largest banking corporations in the world. The couple met while working on a project, and married in 2009.
Since then Mani has participated in many events to raise awareness about cancer. In 2016, he ran the London Marathon and raised £5,000 (approximately Rs 4 lakh) for Anthony Nolan, UK registry of stem cell donors.
For Rajee, a stem cell transplant is her only hope. As no one in her family is a match, several private registries in the UK and Chennai-based Registry DATRI are conducting drives to help find one. As Rajee was born in India, the possibility of finding a match is more here based on ethnicity.
“Stem cell transplant is a risky process for the patient and is recommended as a last step. For Rajee, it’s the only option left,” Mani says.
Three weeks ago, Rajee got a fever. A week later, we learned that her cancer had progressed,” he says.
In a bid to find a match, mid-January Mani got in touch with Chennai’s stem cell donor registry DATRI, who are doing everything they can.
Mani has requested we share a message: “People search for different ways to make sense of their lives. This way you can make a difference. Finding a match for a cancer patient it like magic. It is a way of doing something good for someone.”
Rajee’s cancer has progressed to the Blast Crisis (BC) stage and she needs to find a donor in the next 30 days.
REGISTER TO SAVE A LIFE
Raghu Rajagopal, DATRI’s co-founder and CEO, says, “The probability of someone finding a match can range from anywhere between one in 10,000 to one in 2 lakh. We currently have around 1.8 lakh individuals registered with DATRI. The registry has facilitated 226 matches since 2011 but currently around 1,200 patients are waiting for a match in India as per our data. Anyone between the age group of 18 to 50 years can be a life saver.”
How does stem cell donation work?
Blood is taken from the donor’s arm with a needle, and is flown into a centrifuge. This device filters out the stem cells, and the remaining blood is injected back into the donor with the same needle.
The challenge
The probability of finding a donor is very less.
How can you help
Contribute a swab of your saliva to a cancer registry.
To reach DATRI and register as a donor call 1800 300 32874 or log on to datri.org
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