Testimonial: Sickle Cell Anemia Treatment of Alexander From Nigeria
Little Alexander from Lagos Nigeria, now four, was born with sickle cell disease, a genetic disorder in which bone marrow produces defective hemoglobin, which can block the blood supply to parts of the body, resulting in painful episodes and potentially disheartening strokes.
However, Mother mentioned “Alexander was so severely affected that he was hospitalized several times shortly after birth and he got strokes twice due to which his speech was affected and he couldn’t speak at all. The other day, baby Alexander was admitted to the hospital due to a severe attack his hand movement got affected and he couldn’t uphold his hand much. His medical condition worried both me and his father. We began looking for the best medical facility online where we could oversee the bone marrow transplant. We contacted the Medsurge India team on the internet, and they explained the entire program to us, as well as they arranged an urgent video consultation with Dr. Vikas Dua (Pediatric Hematologist & Oncologist) from Fortis Hospital in Gurgaon, India.
After discussing Alexander’s current situation and reviewing his medical records, the doctor advised us to undergo a specific HLA blood test to determine the best match.
However, due to bad luck, we were not able to get the full match donor and being a parent none of us were a full match with the baby because “parents are never full match”, they are always half matched as genes come from both the parents. We were disappointed about how long it would take to find the best match and how transplantation would take place. Making this imagination that baby Alexander will never be healthy and live a normal life like other kids frightened us deep down. But, thanks to the doctor and his team, we were encouraged and informed that bone marrow transplantation is even possible with a half match. Parents can always be a half-matched donor for Half Match BMT also called as “Haploidentical BMT”.
When we found out that his father would be the donor for little Alexander, we were overjoyed, and we immediately began packing to travel to India. On the day we arrived, a member of the medsurge India team met us at the airport.
He took us to the hospital the same day after we moved into the apartment. In the hospital, we met Dr. Dua and his team, and they began the testing protocol before beginning the procedure. The whole BMT procedure ended up after one month of hospitalization but the team advised that patient needs to be India for another 3 months for regular follow ups.
He recovered quickly and returned to play soon after the treatment. After BMT he started speaking and using his hands too. The baby Alexander’s immunity towards medication was responding very well and he started growing good like a normal baby.
“As a parent, it is just heartbreaking to have to watch your child be so sick and not be able to help,” said Alexander’s father. He also mentioned that “ We wanted to thank medsurge India, whose entire team understood children’s special needs. The hospital staff was also amazing and did an excellent job of ensuring that we understood everything that was going on. We are so glad we chose Medsurge India.”
Dushyant Magu, founder of Medsurge India mentioned “Junior Alexander is an inquisitive, helpful kindergartener who enjoys colouring, football, and bugging his 10-year-old cousin sister. His parents now take pleasure in seeing him grow and knowing he has a bright future”.
