8-month-old from Pakistan becomes India’s youngest bone marrow donor after saving his sister’s life

BENGALURU: 8-month-old Rayan from Pakistan became the youngest donor of bone marrow in India after the infant saved life of his elder sister, Zeenia, 2 years and 4 months now who was suffering from a rare disease, Hemaphagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Her bone marrow produced some abnormal cells which were eating away her normal marrow cells for which bone marrow transplant was the only cure. Post two months of the successful bone marrow transfer in a city hospital now, both the siblings are doing well and will be returning to Sahiwal, their native place in Pakistan with their relieved parents in few days.

Everything was fine for Zeenia and she had a normal growth till she completed her first 11 months and started developing high persistent fever which was not cured by antibiotics she was locally administered with. On detail screening, she was diagnosed with the rare bone marrow ailment with high fever, low blood counts and liver and spleen enlargement which is medically considered as a life threatening disorder. Also, she was diagnosed with partial albinism since birth.

Zeenia's condition came as a rude shock to her parents as they were told back home the disease was not curable. "Back home diseases like Hemaphagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis are mired with misconceptions. There is a perception that it is not curable. In fact we had given up all hope till we happened to hear about a similar case being treated at Narayana Health City. We are glad that we could make this trip to India and are grateful to the entire team of doctors who saved our daughter's life," said Zia Ulla, her father.

After Zeenia whose condition had adversely deteriorated due to recurring infection coupled with the long journey from Pakistan to India, was admitted to the hospital and was stabilised, her 8-month-old brother, Rayan turned out to be a complete HLA



match for her. However, Rayan was just an infant and what the hematologists in Narayana Health did was pretty challenging.

Dr Sunil Bhat, senior consultant and head of pediatric hematology, oncology and bone marrow transplant, said, "The case was very challenging from the donor's perspective as he was just 8-months-old. Typically their bones are very soft and supplying and extracting the stipulated dosage added on to our challenge. It is risky to extract more than 15 to 20 ml per kg of body weight on one go from an infant like Rayan. Hence, we had to do in two steps with a time gap of six weeks between the two extractions."

"By using small marrow extraction needles, our abled team of anaesthetists could successfully extract enough bone marrow that cured Zeenia. Rayan who was put on iron supplements and adequate nutrition post bone marrow extraction to face the loss of bone marrow, has not only saved his sister's life but has also become the youngest marrow donor in our country," added Dr Bhat.

Speaking about the growing Indo-Pak bond over medical treatment, Dr Sharat Damodar, senior consultant haematologist and clinical director at Narayana Health City, said: "We are glad that we are being able to help a large number of patients from Pakistan as well as other countries by offering them quality treatment. Just over a decade ago, two and half-year-old Noor Fatima had come to our facility from Lahore and got cured of her congenital heart disorder. And now it was our little Zeenia. Our bone marrow transplant unit has completed more than 650 stem cell transplants till date."

"We are planning to start an online page once we return to Pakistan and share our story there with the public at large so that the page becomes a platform to create awareness about this illness in Pakistan along with its possible treatment," said Zia Ulla.