Years on, she has not only overcome her illness, but is actively raising public awareness of the importance of volunteering as bone marrow donors and of donating umbilical cord blood to public cord blood banks.
"Many years ago, I had a patient who was diagnosed with early blood cancer. We all thought she would do well, but she did not respond to the medication and a bone marrow transplant was the only effective option left. We had immense difficulties identifying a suitable donor but that did not deter us.
She finally underwent a transplant using an alternative source of bone marrow stem cells. She had a tough time during the transplant and recovery, but with the support of her family and the transplant team, she recovered well. Years on, she has not only overcome her illness, but is actively raising public awareness of the importance of volunteering as bone marrow donors and of donating umbilical cord blood to public cord blood banks."
Assoc Prof Aloysius Ho
Director, Clinical Services, SingHealth Duke-NUS Blood Cancer Centre
Programme Director, Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Programme,
SingHealth Transplant
Celebrated on May 28th, World Blood Cancer Day is an international awareness day where people all over the world join together to raise awareness on blood cancer. The awareness symbol, a red ampersand conveys that you & I are united in the fight against blood cancer.
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