Dana Air has joined the search for a donor whose tissue type matches that of a Nigerian-German woman, Astrid, who is willing to donate their stem cells to save her life.
Spokesman for the airline, Mr. Kingsley Ezenwa said in a statement that the 41-year-old woman is in need of a stem cell transplant to survive a disease she was diagnosed with in September 2018, after visiting a doctor for sore throat treatment.
“Project PINK BLUE, a cancer fighting non-governmental organisation that we have been supporting for years now in partnership with Bone Marrow Registry Nigeria (BMRN) and The SunFlower Fund is organizing donor drive events across Nigeria and we are calling on Nigerians to help save Astrid by registering and signing up as donors.’’
”To stay alive, Astrid needs a matching stem cell donor and anyone who is healthy and between 18 and 45 years can help by registering as a potential stem donor by attending the donor drive taking place at: GIZ Office, 592 Idejo Street, Beside Development Bank, Victoria Island, Lagos. 11am-5pm, or visit www.help-astrid.com.
The registration takes only a few minutes and doesn’t hurt or involve any cost implication”
“The search for her genetic twin is very difficult. The chance of finding this match is 1:100 000 and the best chance of a match is within your same ethnic background. There is only a 25 per cent chance that a sibling will be a match. The remaining 75 per cent chance depends on an unrelated matching donor being found,” he said.
Stem cells are cells that can differentiate into other types of cells, and can also divide in self-renewal to produce more of the same type of stem cells.
According to Wikipedia, there are three known accessible sources of autologous adult stem cells in humans: bone marrow, adipose tissue, and blood.
Stem cells can also be taken from umbilical cord blood just after birth.
Of all stem cell therapy types, autologous harvesting involves the least risk.
By definition, autologous cells are obtained from one’s own body, just as one may bank his or her own blood for elective surgical procedures.
