Bonemarrow transplantation for Elijah | Raised 5 Lakhs

Dear Friends,

As most of you know, Luke's son Elijah was diagnosed with cancer (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) 2-3 years and he had recovered miraculously. Unfortunately, he had a relapse in Nov 1st week and he is currently undergoing treatment at Bangalore/Vellore. 



I visited Elijah and Luke few weeks back at Manipal hospital (Bangalore) and it's really heartbreaking to see Elijah bed ridden like that. They have no other choice other than doing a bone marrow transplantaion and they were hoping that they will find a match in Julia (Luke's 2 year old daughter). But they couldn't find a match with in the immediate family (Luke, Suni and Julia) and they are in the process of finding a donour. They also need to take Elijah to Vellore for furhter treatment.  The approximate cost for the entire process (Donor cost , Transplant and treatment related to possible infections) is around 70 Lakhs (INR).

Request all of you to remember Elijah in your prayers and help him financially. You can find more details in the mail below:

-pulicken.


From: CHERUKARETH LUKE NINAN (MCS/PSE) <luke.ninan.cherukareth.ext@belgacom.be>
Date: Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 6:18 PM
Subject: FW: Elijah
To: "antony.pulicken@gmail.com" <antony.pulicken@gmail.com>

In early November 2010, Elijah had a tummy ache.We took him to the local clinic, and he was found to have constipation, easily relieved with medication.  But the blood tests that were run revealed chilling results.  Elijah had 30% blast cells, which means his marrow was again beginning to overpopulate his blood stream with unmatured white cells (Cancer Cells).  He was admitted for a bone marrow biopsy within a few days.  The results confirmed he had leukemia. .

At this present time, he has completed his 5 days of chemotherapy, intensification phase, tolerating it moderately well.  He is yet to take a bone marrow biopsy to confirm remission, but his blood counts seem to be increasing at an appropriate pace. His oncologist has suggested that this time around, since his leukemia is milder and caught early, it is must to go in for bone marrow transplant at the earliest because of the cancer relapse.  We had my daughter Julia typed for her HLA, hoping she would match with his blood HLA, as siblings have the highest probability of being a suitable match as a donor.  Unfortunately, her HLA did not match with his.  Neither did mine or my wife’s match with our son’s.  We have been refered to CMC Vellore for an unrelated BMT.  Our doctor says it may take 3-4 months to find a donor.  He expects the bone marrow transplant may cost us approximately 70 lakhs Indian rupees which includes the Donor cost , Transplant and treatment related to possible infections.  And until we find a suitable donor, my son needs to be on chemotherapy indefinitely to keep him in remission.  His last hospitalization, which lasted 18 days, cost us 3 lakh rupees. Any help for his treatment will be of a great help.