Thalassemia patient gets new lease of life

A 26-year old commerce graduate, who suffered from Thalassemia major (blood disorder) from childhood, received a new lease of life, after he underwent a bone marrow transplant (BMT) in the City.

Saket Kumar Jha, who hails from Jaipur told reporters on Saturday that he underwent blood transfusion for more than 24 years until he visited Bengaluru-based Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre, a unit of Narayana Health, where he was suggested to undergo a bone marrow transplant.

“I was fed up with my life. I wanted to be as normal as my friends. I faced traumatic period for two decades undergoing blood transfusion every month. After undergoing bone marrow transplantation within 46 days of hospitalisation, I feel almost recovered”, he said.

Dr Sunil Bhat, Head, Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center, took up the case after conducting few preliminary tests and cured him from Thalassemia with the matching bone marrow from his sister. He said that those who suffer from Thalassemia required to undergo blood transfusion every three to four weeks for the whole of their life. “In this particular case, patient’s sister Adithi Jha, who is aged 20, was not hospitalised and took less than few hours to complete the procedure. You do not loose part of your body by donating the bone marrow. It replicates immediately”, he pointed out.

Dr Sharat Damodar, clinical director, said that Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center at Narayana Health City completed more than 500 BMT procedures. The centre has decided to treat one BMT patient every month at five lakh rupees, which is less than 50 per cent of the cost,” he said.