Daughter donates stem cells to save father’s life in Slovenia
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Marko, a man from Slovenia, learned he had leukemia and required a stem cell transplant. After doctors could not find a suitable donor among 44 million registered worldwide, his wife, Marjeta, initiated a national drive to recruit new donors to the Slovenia Donor registry.
The campaign brought in over 1600 new potential donors, but still no match for Marko.
Ultimately, their daughter Zala was found to be a compatible donor and successfully donated stem cells to her father, giving him a new immune system. Primož Poženel, the medical director of Slovenia Donor, explained that donating stem cells is safe and monitored by doctors. The donor receives medication for five days beforehand, and the cells are collected from the blood in a five-hour procedure. The body quickly replenishes the donated cells.
Polona Novak, a hematologist, stated that this stem cell treatment is a modern way to treat blood cancer and acts as the first effective immunotherapy. While a matching donor is essential, doctors find one in 99 percent of cases. The Slovenia Donor registry currently has 25,520 people and regularly needs new registrants to replace donors who age out of the system.
