BEIRUT: A Lebanese expatriate in Australia in need of a bone marrow transplant is looking to find a match in Lebanon and in the process is working to raise awareness to create a national registry of donors in Lebanon.

It would be amazing if there could be a bone marrow registry in Lebanon, says Pamela Bou Sejean. Im getting treatment to keep my cancer under control. But I cant go on too long, said 26-year-old Lebanese expatriate from Western Australia who was diagnosed in 2010 with Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of leukemia that can be treated with a bone marrow transplant.

Bone marrow transplants treat different types of blood cancer, including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myloma, as well as several non-malignant conditions. The United States and Western Europe have databases for anonymous donors, with Germany having approximately 1 million registered. The best matches tend to be from donors related to the patient, and when that fails, doctors turn to their national registries.

None of Bou Sejeans relatives turned out to be a match, nor was anyone on the national registry in Australia. Her doctors told her that her best hope would be to find a match in her ancestral country of Lebanon, where potential donors have similar genes.

However, until now, bone marrow transplants in Lebanon have almost all been done with relatives of patients because of a lack of a national registry, as well as government funding or charities that can cover the $500 cost of the donor test.

Australia, on the other hand, has been covering the entire cost of Bou Sejeans treatment, including a $10,000 stem cell transplant last year and all of her tests in Lebanon.

Bou Sejean is hoping that her story will help raise enough awareness to push the government to create a national registry program and also encourage Lebanese citizens to take the test and the chance to save someones life.

If a registry is available, people can take the test, Bou Sejean says. Its not painful. Its just like a blood test. It takes the blood and separates the stem cells. To save someones life is worth it.

Bou Sejeans public awareness campaign started when a friend told her local newspaper, the Geelong Advertiser, about her situation. Other media interviews followed. When it was announced that President Michel Sleiman would be traveling to Australia, a newspaper put her in contact with his staff, who arranged a private meeting that lasted half an hour during his state visit.

During a speech in which he addressed members of Lebanons expatriate community in Melbourne, Sleiman implored the Lebanese to take the test to see if they are a match, rhetorically asking, Are we incapable of giving Pamela blood?

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Woman’s plight spurs push for marrow registry - feature

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