Najma's story
I became involved with Desi Donors when I heard about the journey of Dean Sheikh and his difficulty in finding a bone marrow match. My own journey was thankfully not so difficult and I wanted to share my story with anyone and everyone who ever thought of saving a life, but was scared and confused about the process the pain factor (which is tiny) and generally lack of knowledge as these matters are not really topical within our communities until and unless it happens to a loved one.
I was diagnosed with an acute myeloid leukaemia in February 2006, no one in my family had ever had a cancer or a blood disorder as far back as we could track so it was scary.
I was told I may not survive as my leukaemia had already caused brain haemorrhages and bleeding in other parts of my body, I had six months in hospital with four horrendous doses of chemotherapy before I was told I was in remission. Although I was supposed to be on maintenance chemotherapy for two years my leukaemia relapsed all of a sudden in January 2007.
Aila Ahmed is 3 years old and urgently needs a bone marrow transplant. She suffers from aplastic anaemia and her only chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor. There will be huge difficulties in finding a match for Aila and other patients like her. That is because she is of mixed race descent and there are not enough donors from similar backgrounds on the Anthony Nolan Register.
YOU could be the person who could save eight-month-old Alishba Qamer’s life.
