Meeting Jay and Akshat

Meeting Jay and Akshat

Every first Thursday of the month, I travel to Raipur for my OPD at Petal's Hospital. During these visits, I see many patients suffering from blood disorders such as Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and thalassemia, as well as blood cancers. The prevalence of SCD and thalassemia is particularly high in this region. Most of these children face numerous complications due to these blood disorders. Most patients opt for the management of the disease with medicines and blood transfusion but with age even the this treatment leads to many other complications. The only curative treatment option available, Bone Marrow Transplant, is not commonly preferred due to its cost and associated risks.

As a doctor, my main focus is on reducing the risks involved in the treatment process. I achieve this by carefully evaluating each patient beforehand and strategically planning the transplant. These measures significantly improve the success rate of the treatment.

This visit to Raipur was special because I met two of my patients-- Jay and Akshat--who, when I first met them, were in a lot of pain. Their families were anxious and clueless. Jay and Akshat are the same age, from the same town in Chhattisgarh, and were suffering from the same disease, SCD.

Akshat was only one-year old when he was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease and had been managing it with regular blood transfusions and medicines till 17-years of age, when the families finally decided to go for a bone marrow transplant. Fortunately, his sister was found a perfect match, and the transplant and recovery went smoothly.

In fact, Akshat's smooth recovery prompted Jay to go for a bone marrow transplant. But Jay's case was different. Jay was diagnosed with SCD at the age of two and had been receiving regular blood transfusions and medicines, but he had been suffering from frequent episodes of excruciating pain. The family even feared that he might not survive the pain.

The family wanted to give Bone Marrow transplant, a chance.

Jay's father became the donor, and it was what we call a haploidentical transplant. We needed to be careful because Jay was very fragile, and we could not give him the third cycle of chemotherapy that we had planned to nuke his existing faulty bone marrow. Every step of his transplant was critical, but together we overcame all the challenges.

During this visit, I met both boys. They came for their routine check-up, and they were healthy, happy, and cheerful. I could hear them talking and giggling in the OPD; their parents were also talking to each other, exchanging hearty laughter.

Seeing my patients recover from a dreadful illness is the most precious moment for me. It inspires me to continue improving the treatment methodology. Rigorous research in Bone Marrow Transplant is helping enhance the success of all types of transplants: haploidentical, where mother or father are donors and the match is half; matched-related donors, where siblings are a full match; and unrelated donors, where the match is partial.

I consider myself fortunate to be able to contribute to improving the quality of life for my patients, and I am grateful for the availability of medicines that support my treatment methodologies. I am truly thankful to my team, who support me at every step of the way.