Young Jandré set to get bone marrow transplant

The brave boy fighting cancer, Jandré van Coller, is set to get a bone marrow transplant on October 30.

Jandré was diagnosed with early precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in May. He had been ill for a long time, as doctors struggled to diagnose him.

Doctors then strongly suggested that Jandré should be treated with two types of chemo, laspar and nelerabrine, which has only recently been approved in America.

ALSO READ: Jandré is still urgently in need of donations

Words couldn’t express the gratefulness his parents, Angeliqué and Pierre, felt when they received the good news that Jandré is in remission.

Angeliqué said it is heart breaking for the family to send a healthy boy for a transplant. It is, however, necessary and the family are at peace with the decision.

“The one-night admission for Jandré on October 15 will be for his hitman line and will be admitted again on October 20 to be prepared for his procedure. From the 21st, he will be receiving strong chemo for six days with the aim of destroying his own bone marrow,” Angelique explained.

“His immune system needs to be broken down for his body not to recognise the donor’s stem cells as foreign. Medication is used effectively to work in conjunction with each other to prevent allergic reactions or side effects. He might experience severe nausea and mood outbursts.

“Many side effects, such as mouth sores and diarrhea, are common during the treatment.

“The donor of the stem cells will be getting injections for five days so that his body can produce stem cells. This could also cause pain and discomfort for the donor. He will be admitted for a day, where stem cells are harvested. His blood will be pumped into a machine which separates blood from cells, where after his blood will circulate back to his own cells.

“An 18-year-old boy from Germany, who had the most similarities to Jandré, was chosen as it will decrease the chance of Jandré’s body to reject the calls. The cells will then be sent to South Africa.

“On October 30, cells will be infused into Jandré’s body. Due to medication, he might be sleepy or develop a fever. Old cells will still need about five days to be completely destroyed. New cells will be working by day nine. This is an important period as he might get dangerous infections.

“Medication will be given to Jandré to aid his body in preventing fungal and bacterial infections. His old cells will no longer be working and new cells will have to take over.

“The faster the new cells start working, the better the chances are of long-term survival.

“At this stage, we only told him and his brother, Pedrie, that he needs to go to hospital one more time for doctors to ensure he will never get sick again.”

She said they are thankful to Dr Nadia who pushed this process to happen in record time. Jandré is running out of time as it would be difficult to decide if we needed to wait for a national donor.

“It’s important for donors to be committed. We had to choose an international donor as only six from Jandré’s 100 matches committed themselves for further tests in two months,” she added.

During this difficult time, the van Coller family did everything possible to raise money and are thankful to those who contributed. They are, however, still raising money for Jandré’s treatment as they are still in need of approximately R90 000.

BackaBuddy (backabuddy.co.za/charity/profile/jandre-van-coller-leukemia-cause) and GoFundMe (ie.gofundme.com/f/jandre039s-cancer-medication) pages have been created for people to make a contribution.

The family has also created a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/JandrevanCollerFunds/) in order to create awareness.

For more information on how to make a contribution contact Angeliqué on vancollerangelique@gmail.com