Parents’ plea to save their daughter
A MOTHER has pleaded for potential blood stem cell donors to register after her 21-month-old daughter was given until the end of this month to find a match.
Liya Gumusoz has been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, a rare and aggressive type of cancer.
Doctors told her parents, Ufuk and Hatice that Liya must have a bone marrow transplant by the end of July if she is to survive.
Liya’s parents, who live in Twickenham, west London, first noticed something was wrong at the start of the year. their daughter became tired more easily, lost her appetite and had unusual bruising on her body.
When she began to have difficulty walking her parents knew something was wrong.
Liya was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, where a haematologist confirmed she had leukaemia. She began chemotherapy, but due to the aggressiveness of the cancer, it is not enough to beat the disease.
Her only chance of survival lies in a blood stem cell donor, but nobody on the register is a close enough genetic match to Liya.
Mrs Gumosoz said: “People should donate. It’s only their blood, their stem cells. It’s a very basic procedure.
“It only takes a couple of hours to do it and you can save one person’s life.
“It could save her. there’s no way she will survive.”
People aged between 17 and 55 and in general good health, can request a home swab kit to become a potential blood stem cell donor at www.dkms.org.uk/liya