Edmonton family focusing on positives during ‘terrible’ time
Nguyens urge city’s Asian community to take part in stem cell registration drive
Three Edmonton sisters are trying to save their brother’s life by encouraging Calgary ’s Asian community to participate in a stem cell registration drive Sunday.
Bille Nguyen needs to find a stem cell match after being diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer — subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma. After hearing about the low odds of finding a match, his elder sisters began organizing stem cell registration drives in Edmonton and Calgary to increase his chances.
“Even though this is a terrible situation, at least we are raising awareness. It not only helps me, but can help anybody in my situation,” said Bille.
Last October, Bille was studying engineering at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology when he caught a cold that didn’t go away. Soon, his cough led to fevers and skin discoloration and lumps appeared.
After unsuccessful chemotherapy treatments, Bille’s cancer was deemed too aggressive and doctors suggested he receive a stem cell transplant.
But according to Sarah Jasmins, Western Canada’s stem cell territory manager for Canadian Blood Services, Bille’s Vietnamese-Chinese descent puts him at a disadvantage in his search for a match.
“Canada’s database comprises about 68 per cent Caucasian registrants and only about 32 per cent from diverse ancestry . ... Currently, there are about 69,000 registrants of Asian descent, which translates into about 16 per cent of the database,” said Jasmins.
With a more diverse registrant pool, patients’ chances of finding a match increase.
“Canadian Blood Services needs a network of registrants that accurately represents Canada’s growing ancestral mosaic because patients are more likely to find a donor within their own ancestral group,” Jasmins added.
Bille’s sisters are determined to find a match.
“He’s the youngest and only boy, so it’s definitely hitting our family really hard,” said Susan Nguyen, one of Bille’s elder sisters.
Susan said they hope the stem cell registration drives will grow the donor pool.
“Often times for these people who have a blood cancer, they need a stem cell transplant to live,” she said.
Through their partnership with Canadian Blood Services and the One Match stem cell donor program, the sisters have already hosted a similar event in Edmonton earlier this month. Unfortunately, no match was found.
Bille said the turnout in Edmonton was more than he and his sisters could have imagined. “We were expecting maybe 100 people to come, but over 600 showed up. It was quite heart warming and gave us a lot of hope.”
According to Susan, it takes about 10 minutes to fill out the form and submit a cheek swab, which adds a person’s DNA sample to the donor database.
“If you do match, you’re probably that person’s only chance of survival,” said Susan.
The Calgary Match 4 Bille event will take place Sunday at the Calgary Vietnamese Canadian Association at 1829 54th St. S.E. People can register and submit a cheek swab from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.