A VIBRANT and energetic 29-year-old, is urging the community to join the SA Bone Marrow Registry.
Nonkululeko Makhosazane Pearl Malinga, best known as Khosi, is a 29-year-old, who is strong-willed and big on family values and religion.
On 28 May last year, when Khosi was expecting her second baby girl, her doctor gave her the shocking news that her blood results showed an abnormality that could represent cancer cells.
“I was in denial, I mean this couldn’t be happening to me, cancer – no I’m still young, there must be some sort of mistake,” she said.
After extensive testing, Khosi was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). More heartbreak followed when doctors advised that her pregnancy had to be terminated.
“I’ve never been so distraught in my life. Having to consent to your baby’s life being taken in order to save your own. As a mother, that killed me from my very soul. I found comfort only in God, I could never have made it through without Him. I decided to gather all my courage and fight back with all I had, and win the battle in order to make worthwhile the sacrifice I had made, losing my little Lisakhanya (which means beautiful light that shines on forever),” she said.
Khosi is currently in remission after extensive chemo sessions, and says that miracles do happen.
“The key is just believing and never giving up. Staying positive, no matter how hard it may seem, tomorrow will definitely be a better day,” she said.
At this stage, Khosi does not require a stem cell transplant but she is committed to creating awareness and educating the public of the great need for all who qualify to register as stem cell donors on The South African Bone Marrow Registry.
The Sunflower Fund educates, creates awareness of the need for more donors and raises funds to pay the initial test cost for donors to register on the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR). Tissue typing is a very costly procedure with the DNA Molecular test costing The Sunflower Fund in the region of R2000 per donor.
Ethnicity is so important as donor matches depend on tissue types, not blood types and these inherited genetic characteristics are often more frequent in a particular ethnic group.
“Donors are more likely to be from the same ethnic group as the patient. Our aim in the long-term is to recruit 400 000 donors representative of all ethnic groups, offering more hope to those patients who are searching for suitable matches,” said Mandy Bergsma from The Sunflower Fund.
According to the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) every year hundreds of South Africans with blood diseases such as leukaemia reach the point where their only chance of survival is a stem cell transplant. The main problem is finding a compatible stem cell donor. Family members especially siblings, are generally most suitable, but only 30 per cent of patients will have a suitable match in the family. For the other 70 per cent, their only hope is to find a matching donor on the SABMR.
Donors need to be between the ages of 18 and 45 and in good health, they need to weigh over 50kg with a BMI of <40. All it takes is two test tubes of blood to register as a stem cell donor and if you are ever lucky enough to be a match for a patient, the process of donating stem cells is similar to platelet donation, no invasive surgery is required.
Should you wish to become a donor, support one of the fundraising projects or make a financial contribution, please contact the Durban Regional Office on 031 266 1148 or email mandy@sunflowerfund.org.za.
