“Thank You For Giving My Daughter A New Lease of Life”
- The parents of 9-year-old Ms. Batul Bohari thanked the stem cell donors and LifeCell
- In line with cord blood awareness month, LifeCell brings together the young donors and recipients involved in the first-of-its-kind procedure in India
New Delhi, 11 July 2022: With LifeCell’s Community Cord Blood banking initiative making cord blood transpl ants affordable and more accessible in India, the nation today witnessed the first-of-its-kind celebration of a 9-year-old survivor of Aplastic Anemia. In a heart-warming event filled with emotions of joy, gratitude and hope, Miss. Batul Huzefa Bohari who underwent the dual unit cord blood transplant procedure met and interacted wi th the donor families of Miss. Divsha Agarwal (aged 4) from Hyderabad, and Master. Advik Aggarwal (aged 5) from Delhi, in the presence of the doctors and the management of LifeCell International.
On 15th October 2020, a team of senior doctors led by Dr. Pritesh Junagade from LOTUS Institute of Haemato logy, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Nashik, Maharashtra conducted this unique dual cord blo od transplant to save the life of Miss. Batul from Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. This transplant was particularly ch allenging because there were no appropriate bone marrow donors and the cost of retrieval of matching units fr om public cord blood banks would have been quite high. As members of LifeCell Community Bank, the parents placed a matching request for two cord blood units after Batul’s sibling was found to be only a 50% (4/8) HLA m atch. Two high-quality matches (7/8) were found in the LifeCell Registry, which fulfilled the requirement for Um bilical Cord Blood (UCB) transplantation. Importantly, the parents could withdraw these matched units at no ad ditional expense, which otherwise would cost not less than INR 45,00,000/unit, according to a 2011 study analy sing the cost of UCB transplantation in India.
Thanking the donors, Mr Huzefa Bohari, father of Miss. Batul Bohari, said “We are very happy to see our child back to her normal routine, as cheerful as ever. It is heartening to see her engaging in the activities that she dearly loves, be it painting or drawing. We are forever thankful to the donors, Dr. Pritesh Junagade, and LifeCell for presenting our daugh ter with an opportunity for a fresh new lease of life. Our second child’s cord blood is now preserved through their Comm unity Cord Blood Banking initiative, and if the situation arises, we shall surely step up and extend our full support to the needy.”
Mr. Mayur Abhaya, Managing Director, LifeCell International said “I am very pleased to see the meaningful impact our Community Cord Blood banking is creating in the society. It was lovely to see these three children playing together, and I thank the donor families and the Doct ors for making this possible. We are committed to make cord blood trans pl ants more and more affordable and quickly accessible for the people in the country, thus strengthening the protection shield for a healthy future”
Dr. Pritesh Junagade, Director of LOTUS Hospital, said “In most of the blood-related disorders treatable by transpla nts, the patients’ own stem cells are not suitable. Hence, the best donor is a close family member, usually a sibling. Howe ver, in this particular case, there was only a 50% match with the sibling and that’s why a high-quality match from an un related donor was crucial for a successful transplant. Luckily, since the family was a part of LifeCell’s Community Bank ing program, they could gain quick, free access to the huge inventory.”
Introduced in 2017, LifeCell’s Community Cord Blood Banking is a unique initiative, which allows sharing of pres erved umbilical cord blood stem cells from a common pool amongst the members of the community. The model offers greater and easier access to donor stem cells, unlimited retrievals at the cost of one enrolment, and a hig her probability for finding a close match for potentially life-saving treatments. Community banking, thus, ensur es complete protection to the child, siblings, parents, and grandparents from more than 80 blood disorders treat able by stem cells.
About LifeCell – :
Established in 2004, LifeCell is India’s first and largest stem cell bank, enjoying the trust of over 4,00,000+ par en ts who have banked their children’s stem cells with the company. We are the only player in the industry pro vidin g comprehensive stem cell solutions including the novel initiative of community stem cell banking, R&D and po int-of-care stem cell therapy for orthopaedic and vascular specialities. Our Diagnostic division offers India’s mo st comprehensive diagnostic program for mother & baby care, offering preconception, prenatal and newborn testing services aimed at addressing the challenge of high infant mortality rate in the country as well as promo ting health and wellness for generations to come.
For more information, visit www.lifecell.in
