The mother of an 18-month-old leukaemia patient being treated in Nottingham says they are in a "race against time" to find a suitable donor to potentially save her life. Elaiya Hameed is currently recovering from her second round of chemotherapy at the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) after being diagnosed with myeloid leukaemia at the end of May.
The rare, life-threatening genetic condition affects around 3,100 people every year in the UK, accounting for less than one percent of new cancer cases in the country. The rare cancer can be cured by peripheral blood stem cell collection (PBSC), transfusion or bone marrow donation.
Elaiya, who lives with her family in Northampton, is being treated at the QMC as the level of chemotherapy which she is undergoing can only be given at certain hospitals. Elaiya lives with her mum Summan, 25, dad Muzahir, 29, and two-year-old brother Deen.
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Summan Hameed said: "Elaiya is just recovering from her second round of chemotherapy and that is happening quite slowly. We are in a race against time because the procedure is that, after two rounds of chemotherapy, conditional chemotherapy is given right before a transplant takes place.
"The doctors are quite keen not to sway too far from that timeline and so we're counting down the days now. We're looking at around mid to late September when the transplant needs to be happening. We do have a mismatched umbilical cord as a back up but that carries a far greater risk of side effects.
"It has been the craziest time of our lives managing this but she is still waking up every morning with a smile on her face, so we just have to try and turn off our emotion and focus on being strong parents for her. It's been hard on her brother as well because he's young but he is at an age where he's started to understand, but I can't bring him to hospital to see her and we're just trying to keep things as normal for him as possible."
As part of the effort to find her a donor, Elaiya's family have been teaming up with blood cancer charities DKMS and Anthony Nolan to raise awareness about the need for people to join the register of stem cell donors. DKMS says that it has received 50 percent fewer registrations than they were receiving pre-pandemic and that Elaiya's Pakistani ethnic heritage makes it even more difficult to find her a donor, due to low register numbers among people from the Asian community.
Surgeries have been held across the country where people have been swabbed and added to the donor register. Mrs Hameed says she has been contacted by four people who have been matched with donors as a result of the surgeries, one of which was held in Nottingham on July 24.
Mrs Hameed added: "The response has been amazing and we're obviously praying that we can find a donor for Elaiya, but it's good that other people are also being helped by this appeal. I think there is a lack of awareness about joining the register and I just think there needs to be more exposure on the importance of it."
DKMS says that only one in three patients find a matching donor within their family, but adds that taking the first steps to register takes a matter of minutes. Those who are aged between 17 and 55 and who are in general good health can sign up for a home swab kit on the DKMS website.
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