9-year-old girl suffering from blood cancer urgently needs bone marrow transplantation, friends and relatives appeal to citizens to register as donors

A 9-year-old girl, Shen Junyan (Charlotte), recently suffered from blood cancer and is currently receiving treatment at Kai Tak Children’s Hospital. As chemotherapy has not effectively controlled her condition, she urgently needs to find suitable hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation within two weeks to extend her life.

His mother and friend appealed to the public online to register with the Red Cross as a "peripheral blood stem cell and bone marrow donor."

A 9-year-old girl, Shen Junyan (Charlotte), recently suffered from blood cancer and is currently receiving treatment at Kai Tak Children's Hospital. As chemotherapy has not effectively controlled her condition, she urgently needs to find suitable hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation within two weeks to extend her life.

(Mandy Woo post picture)

Shen's mother and friend Mandy posted a post that Charlotte had never been seriously ill, but at the end of August, she had a high fever that did not go away. After a blood test, she was diagnosed with myelogenous leukemia (blood cancer). She was then transferred to Kai Tak Children's Hospital for medical treatment.

"Her family felt like a bolt from the blue in this incident. The children endured the torture of chemotherapy. The parents were even more heartbroken because chemotherapy failed to effectively control the disease. But now, with a one in 10,000 chance, they are racing against time, hoping to find a suitable donor."

Mandy pointed out that during the epidemic, there was no overseas contact and could only rely on the local bone marrow database to match. The public is kindly requested to go to the Red Cross to register as a "peripheral blood stem cell donor and bone marrow donor", or register as a donor at the time of blood donation.

The Red Cross will match up. If it is determined as a suitable donor, it will be notified for further matching and physical examination. "I hope that suitable hematopoietic stem cells can be found for transplantation within two weeks to extend life."

Mandy said, "My friend has always been a super good mother, and he values ​​her daughter very much. It is exaggerated that since the birth of her daughter, she dared not ask her friends for dinner for 9 years, and cherished every moment after work and went home to do homework with her daughter." She hopes that the public will spread the message and encourage her relatives and friends aged between 18 and 50 to donate blood and register as donors.

"The selfless contribution of the marrow donors can bring the dawn of life to the Charlotte family, which is in the bottom of the valley, and I am extremely grateful."

The peripheral blood stem cell donation process is similar to that of general blood donation

According to the information on the website of the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service Center, in addition to traditional bone marrow donation, hematopoietic stem cells can also be drawn from the peripheral blood of the marrow donor through a blood separator.

A few days before donation, granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) needs to be injected to drive the hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow to the peripheral blood for collection.

Hematopoietic stem cells are obtained through a blood separator, and the process is similar to general blood donation (such as blood component donation, plasma and platelet donation).

The entire donation process takes 3 to 4 hours to complete without general anesthesia.

Donation method of peripheral blood stem cells (Photo of Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service Center)

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