VANCOUVER -- Makoda is the three year old girl adopted from China who's been fighting an agressive form of Leukemia. Her plight prompted an international appeal to find a matching blood or bone marrow donor. Thursday, we learned the transplant will not go ahead, even though a match has been found.
Just a few weeks ago, Makoda's parents were upbeat. She had finished her latest round of chemotherapy and there was hope of a possible umbilical cord blood match for a transplant to go ahead. But this week a biopsy showed the chemotherapy did not work, Makoda's leukemia was not in remission.
Dr. Kirk Schultz, Acting Head of Oncology at BC Children's Hospital says, "there reaches a point in any child who's had leukemia if leukemia has come back...more to the child rather than for the child."
Because Makoda's leukemia isn't in remission, a transplant cannot go ahead, even though after months of searching, a cord blood match was found in Taiwan.
"The family has elected to go to Palliative therapy, what Palliative care does is that she (Makoda) still receives treatments or therapy, not on cure but on comfort."
Makoda's family has asked for privacy at this time, but they did issue a statement thanking eberyone for their support and well wishes. The statement goes on to say, "Because of Makoda's story, many people have becomre registered donors and while this will not save Makoda's life, it may save the life of someone else. It is with happiness to know that Makoda's situation was not in vain; hopefully, another family will not have to endure our anguish."
Joanne Bartlett, friend of the Suen Family, says, "its very tough especially for her family and for those of us who know and love them."
Bartlett is heartbroken to be taking down the many posters she and her colleagues at BCIT put up in an appeal that turned global.
Joanne says, "we never gave up, not till we heard the news today, nobody gave up ever, all we can hope is this may help someone else."
That may well happen, there's been a spike in registered bone marrow donors, and officials say it's more than likely due to high profile cases like Makoda's. Even more heartening, more than 11 percent of those new donors are Asian...that's more than double the current ratio of registered donors in Canada.
Most of the time, leukemia is curable in children, but sadly this was not to be for Makoda. Still cases like hers are underlining the need for public cord blood banks. Because a baby's immune system isn't well developed, rejection with unrelated umbilical cord blood is less likely than with adult bone marrow. Many countries have public cord blood banks. Canada does not. But that may soon change.
Monday May 1, 2006
