Cuttack: A four-year-old girl donated stem cells to her two-year-old sister, who has been diagnosed with blood cancer, marking the first such allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) in Odisha. According to sources at SCB Medical College and Hospital, where the procedure was performed, Aliza Naaz, daughter of Sharukh Ansari of Jharkhand’s Dhanbad, was admitted to Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) in Jamshedpur for treatment July 3 last year. Following examinations, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a severe form of blood cancer.
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Doctors advised Sharukh to go for allogeneic BMT and find a suitable stem cell donor. As human leukocyte antigen matching conducted at TMH confirmed a 100 per cent match with her elder sister, the family decided that Aliza’s sister Aatifa will donate stem cell. As the procedure required expenses of Rs 30 lakh, she was brought to SCB. The procedure was performed in January.
