Nov 20 2008
Mixed Race Toddler Finds Match for Bone Marrow
According to the BBC news, 23-month-old Iona Stratton has undergone her bone marrow transplant. She has leukemia and was given just a few months to live.
Because she is mixed race, with a Chinese mother and white father, finding a bone marrow match was difficult. Her parents requested for help in the media, along with social networking sites such as Facebook. A “10 out of 10″ match was found in Australia. Iona is now recovering from her transplant and is undergoing her radiation therapy, where she has to be carefully monitored just in case immune cells from the donor cause problems in Iona’s system.
They hope that the transplant will be a success, as it is considered Iona’s last chance at survival.
According to the registry for potential bone marrow donors, less than 4% of the donors were Asian. Many other ethnic groups have even less of a presence on the registry. The Stratton family continues to urge those of mixed-ethnicity to donate bone marrow.
According to the National Marrow Donor Program, only 2% of donors are of mixed-ethnicity. Thousands of people are diagnosed with blood cancers annually. Most of these patients will not survive without a transplant. Please contact info@mavinfoundation.org or call (206) 622-7101 if you are multi-racial and want to donate. MatchMaker is the only national organization dedicated to finding mixed-race bone marrow donors. They can also direct those interested to where to donate their community.
