Dubai: An Indian man desperate to save his nine-month-old thalassaemic baby has appealed for financial help to get the child a bone marrow transplant.

Damodaran Gopal, 30, a sales engineer in Sharjah, said his only child Tarun Keshav was diagnosed with thalassaemia major at three months, following which he has been receiving blood transfusions every four weeks.

Children born with thalassemia major show symptoms of severe anaemia and cannot produce normal, adult haemoglobin. This leads to impaired growth, limited physical development, deformities of the bones and enlargement of the liver and spleen. If left untreated, it can lead to death.

Grappling with his childs bleak prospects, Gopal said doctors in India have recommended a bone marrow transplant for Keshav for which he needed to find a stem cell match. The task of finding a match was not easy, but we were lucky to find a suitable donor from the National Marrow Donor Program registry in the US. A transplant doctor at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai is willing to do the transplant using this donor, but we cannot afford the funds needed for the process. A report from the hospital confirmed: Baby Tharun Keshav has thalassaemia major, a genetic condition requiring monthly blood transfusions. Stem cell transplantation would be the only curative option for this condition. We plan to use matched unrelated stem cells for transplantation. The cost of the transplant would be approximately $50,000, which includes $30,000 for the stem cells. This amount may increase in case of any fungal infection or grade lll/lV graft versus host disease.

Gopal said he is the only earning member of his family, which includes his aged mother and handicapped brother. My wife and I also discovered that we were thalassemia carriers after my sons diagnosis. We appeal to kindhearted people in Dubai to please help us save our sons life. He is our only hope.

If you wish to help Kehsav may write to editor@xpress4me.com

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Expat in Sharjah: Help us save our son, he is our only hope

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