R650 000 needed to save bone marrow boy

A Cape family needs to raise money for a bone marrow transplant for their son as the only suitable donor is in the US.

Cape Town - A Mitchells Plain family needs to raise more than half-a-million rand to get a bone marrow transplant for their son because the only suitable donor is in the US.

Four-year-old Sufyaan Oostendorp has been battling leukaemia and has been receiving treatment at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, but now he urgently needs a bone marrow transplant.

 His mother, Nuraan Oostendorp, who is pregnant with her second child, said Sufyaan went into remission in July 2013 after he was diagnosed in June 2013. But he suffered a relapse in March this year and they were told he needs a bone marrow transplant.

A suitable donor was found in the US and the family has to raise R650 000 for the operation.

They have begun fund-raising efforts, including hosting high teas and selling boerewors rolls, and they have also created an NPO called the Oostendorp Foundation to collect funds. “The doctor has said that because my wife is pregnant again, the unborn child may be a match, but we will still continue raising funds. If the baby is a match, we will donate the money to other families in the same position,” his father, Zaakir Oostendorp, said.

Nuraan said Sufyaan would be admitted to hospital on Monday for his last round of treatment.

“He is like a normal four year old, he is still stubborn and naughty. His sickness doesn’t bring him down. He runs around and plays but there are days he is tired,” she said.

The SA Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) and ER24 have appealed to South Africans to become possible bone marrow stem donors as they mark bone marrow and leukaemia awareness month, this month.

The chance of finding a matching unrelated donor was on average just one in 100 000, Professor Ernette du Toit, medical director and co-founder of the SABMR, said.

Leukaemia, a cancer of the white cells, was the most common form of childhood cancer and the best chance of finding a matching donor was within the patient’s family or same ethnic group.

“There is a 25 percent chance of finding a matching sibling donor but with smaller family sizes and more diverse families, these odds are dropping,” said Du Toit.

The SABMR often searched for perfectly matched donors worldwide. “Donors living in other countries are found for 75 percent of patients in South Africa. Our staff have travelled as far as Taiwan to collect these cells. This is somewhat of a ‘military operation’ to ensure that the cells reach our patients within 72 hours,” Du Toit said.

“While our staff collect the donated cells, our patients have their diseased bone marrow cells destroyed with chemo-therapy.

“This leaves a window period of 72 hours during which the patient must receive the matched healthy cells.”

Donations can be made to the foundation’s Nedbank trust account

Nedbank Trust

Branch: N1 City

lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za

Cape Times