Leukaemia patient gets new lease of life thanks to TC bone marrow donor

A LEUKAEMIA patient in another country has been given a new lease of life by a 37-year-old Lefkoşa resident who was found to be a suitable match for donating bone marrow.

Hale Kapılgan Fırat registered as a potential donor with the Kemal Saraçoğlu Foundation for Children with Leukaemia and the Fight Against Cancer in 2003 after providing a unit of blood. Following her sample being matched with an overseas patient, Ms Fırat underwent a four-hour medical procedure last Thursday to donate bone marrow.

Some 41,000 people have so far provided blood and swab samples since the foundation was established in 2000 and they are preserved in the World Marrow Bank until matches are found with people awaiting transplants. Over the 18 years of the foundation’s existence, 54 donors such as Ms Fırat have been matched.

Praising Ms Fırat for her “exemplary behaviour”, foundation coordinator Övgü İnce said: “This donation was especially emotional because it made Cancer Week even more meaningful by showing how people are becoming aware of the suffering of cancer and leukaemia patients.

“We very much hope that this will increase awareness still further so that more people will come forward to become potential donors and help to save a life.”

Anyone who is a TRNC citizen aged between 18 and 45 and who has not previously made a bone marrow donation can volunteer to do so. Further information can be obtained by calling (0392) 227 0616.

Meanwhile, an urgent search to find a suitable bone marrow donor for seven-year-old Tuğsan Yazıcı of Cihangir, near Lefkoşa, as reported in Cyprus Today last week, is continuing with more people giving blood and swab samples for analysis.