Hardeep savours the gift of life with stem cell donation to boy
Derby Woman enCourages PeoPle to Join register
A DERBY woman has encouraged people across Derbyshire to register as stem cell donors after she saved the life of a sick boy in India.
Hardeep Bains, 46, joined the stem cell register in 2013 after an appeal at her temple for residents to help save the life of a young boy from Birmingham. While she was not a match for him, two years later she discovered she was actually a match for a young boy living in India.
Hardeep, a finance worker from Derby, said: “I didn’t know much about the charity but I went to the temple and they were doing a donor drive for a little boy with a rare blood condition. When I read about it I was like, ‘if this was one of my children I would want as many people as possible on the register for the best chance possible of finding a match.’
“I registered that day, in 2013, and two years later I got a call to say I was a match for somebody, I didn’t know at the time who it was.”
Ritesh was suffering from a rare blood condition that meant he was having blood transfusions every two weeks. With Hardeep’s stem cell donation, he is now fit and healthy and living in Bhiwani, India. Hardeep said that her donation was a lot easier than she first thought.
She added: “I had to go for some health checks first, and then on the day, the donation was a peripheral collection so was basically like giving blood and they just took it from my bloodstream through the arm. It was quite a simple and straightforward process.
“When I first got the call to say that I was a match, I had such mixed emotions: I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect, but I was also excited that I was going to help save someone’s life.
“The anxiety disappeared on the day, the staff were lovely and it was just so straightforward. It wasn’t painful or anything.”
After her successful donation,
DKMS, an international charity fighting blood cancer and other blood disorders, organised for Hardeep to meet Ritesh for the first time in 2017, which she says gave her mixed emotions. “It was just so emotional. I was quite nervous at first because I didn’t know what to expect, but when I met him on stage it was just amazing.
“He calls me his second mum, so I’ll get a message from him on Mother’s Day, so it’s really quite a special bond.
“His family were really grateful as well, but I said at the end of the day I was so glad I joined the register and was able to help.”
Now, DKMS is urging Derby residents to register for stem cell donation, after registrations across Derbyshire fell 39 percent this year.
A spokesperson for DKMS said: “Taking the first steps to register as a potential blood stem cell donor can be done within a few minutes from the comfort of your own home.
“If you are aged between 17-55 and in general good health you can sign up for a home swab kit online. Your swabs can then be returned with the enclosed pre-paid envelope to DKMS in order to ensure that your details are added to the UK’s aligned stem cell registry.
“Only one in three will find a donor match within their family. This means every year thousands of people in the UK rely on a generous stranger registering as a stem cell donor with DKMS to save their life. Blood cancer patients from black, Asian or minority ethnicity groups sadly face even lower survival odds due to the lack of donor diversity.
“These patients have just a 20% chance of finding the best possible stem cell donor match, compared to 69% for northern European backgrounds.”
Hardeep is also keen to encourage the people of Derby to get involved after her donation changed Ritesh’s life for the better. “It was one of the best things I’ve ever done,” she said.
“I would encourage everyone to get onto the register if they can.
“If I wasn’t on the register, Ritesh would probably still be going through the process he was.
“It’s amazing what going onto the register has done for that family.”
Ritesh calls me his second mum, so I’ll get a message from him on Mother’s Day
Hardeep Bains