A hug that lasted for more than a few minutes. Eyes that welled up with tears. Words of gratitude that kept flowing.
Emotions ran high as the family of four-and-a-half-year old Vihaan and 32-year-old Shankar Ashok Paralkar — complete strangers to each other — met for the first time on Monday. There was a commonality that brought them together; something that had changed their lives forever.
Vihaan, who was diagnosed with thalassemia major when he was born, underwent his first blood transfusion when he was six months old. Years later, after undergoing periodic blood transfusions, the boy got a new lease of life after Mr. Paralkar donated his blood stem cells.
Mr. Paralkar, a resident of Indore, had registered with DATRI, a not-for-profit organisation that has an unrelated blood stem cell donors registry, in 2011 during an awareness session at his office in Mumbai. In 2017, DATRI informed him that he was a match for a patient with a serious blood disorder.
“I was scared at first and did not know what to do. So, I sought advice from a doctor who told me that it could save a life and could do no harm to me. My family asked me to go ahead if it means saving a life. Today, after seeing Vihaan, everything is worth it,” he said.
At the donor-recipient meet organised by DATRI to enable Vihaan’s parents, Priya and Naveen Bandepalya, meet Mr. Paralkar and his family, Sethukkarasi, head-operations, DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donor Registry, said every year, 10,000 babies were born with thalassemia in India, and blood stem cell transplant was the cure for them.
More than four lakh donors have registered so far with DATRI, which has facilitated 580 blood stem cell donations.
Ramya Uppuluri, consultant, Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and Blood Marrow Transplant, Apollo Hospitals, said stem cell donation was absolutely safe. She said more persons should draw inspiration from donors such as Mr. Paralkar as children with thalassemia suffer a lot due to regular blood transfusions.
V. Lakshman, senior consultant, Apollo Hospitals, was present.