Paperwork delay cost my daughter her life

FRIDAY will be the second anniversary of the death of my eldest daughter, Nabeelah. She was diagnosed with leukaemia seven months before her death. Leukaemia is most probably the most dreadful of all cancers. In all other cancers, the cancerous cells can be excised. But not in the case of leukaemia.

A leukaemia sufferer’s only hope is a bone marrow transplant. For this, the potential donor’s bone marrow must match that of the patient perfectly. Often no matches are found, which results in certain death.

My daughter was fortunate with a search on the global donor registry producing 20 matches, with the top few being perfect matches. The national bone marrow registry proceeded, but the top two matches were found in Israel and were approached but declined to donate.

The third on the list, also an Israeli, was prepared to act as a donor. Donor material was extracted and destined for Cape Town.

At that stage my daughter had already undergone five chemo sessions and waited on the arrival of the donor material. As a result of a delay in the material reaching her, she was compelled to undergo a sixth chemo session.

Her immune system was extremely weak after the battery of chemo sessions and she contracted septicaemia and died two days later.

An investigation after her death revealed that the bone marrow was indeed extracted from the third donor. However, when the material reached the border of Israel, a soldier found that the paperwork was not in order. This mishap resulted in the donor material only reaching Cape Town two weeks later.

Die-hard supporters of Israel often write of the compassionate nature of their country. Understandably, my experience tells a completely different story. This raises a couple of serious questions:

How come an organisation that forms part of a global network failed to complete simple paperwork properly?

Does this not highlight the incompetence of a bone marrow registry in Israel where with each donation a precious life is at stake? Or was it done deliberately due to my support for the Palestinians?

Finally, could the outcome for my daughter have been different, had the donor been in a more humane country?