About Kethan

Ten-year-old Kethan was first diagnosed with leukemia (ALL) in 2006 at the age of four. He beat it twice but now it’s back for a third time. His doctors say his best hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant. The problem is finding a donor match. Kethan is of South Asian descent and Asian donors only make up seven percent of the bone marrow donor database.

Because the markers used in matching are inherited, patients are more likely to match someone from their own race or ethnicity. Adding more donors from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to the database increases the likelihood that all patients will find the match they need.

Since no match has been found, Kethan’s doctors are having to move forward with an alternative treatment because of no match. Unfortunately, there are thousands of stories similar to Kethan’s. Please register as a bone marrow donor and help improve the statistics for finding a bone marrow match.

So, what happens if you are a match? Once you are registered, you are in the database until your 61st birthday and could be matched at any time. Please go to www.getswabbed.org to understand more about this process and what it entails.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Here is a message from Kethan's mom:

"Hi everyone!

Today is 52 days post-transplant, and I am happy to say that Kethan is doing well. Last Wednesday, we did another Bone Marrow aspiration/biopsy to check his graft status. They told me that he is currently one hundred per cent donor!! His overall counts are recovering slowly. They say that his marrow has seen so much chemo over the last 6 years, they are not surprised by this. His counts have stabilized, and in fact he has not needed any transfusions in 3 weeks. So, the journey may be slow, and long, but we are going in the right direction ...., and hopefully closer to home."

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Unhooked!!


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GREAT NEWS ABOUT KETHAN!

It's official -- engraftment of Kethan's mom's stem cells has occurred!!!! We've always known Kethan to be our little fighter... He is showing once again! Thank you for all the love and prayers, Team Kethan!
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Monday, August 27, 2012

Today is day +17, and 26 days inpatient! Kethan is doing well so far. His white blood cell count has gone up, and he has an ANC of 1370! If his ANC is still above 1000 tomorrow, they will officially declare him "engrafted". So, fingers crossed, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, out of the hospital and into our home soon. Thank you everyone for all the positive energy, prayers, e-mails, cards etc.
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Thursday, August 23, 2012

This Good Morning America story is a must-see! Please register as a bone marrow donor. You never know whose life you might save. This beautiful African American woman was saved by a wonderful, selfless stranger, a Caucasian young man. I always thought that you could only match someone from your own race or ethnicity, but it ain't necessarily so!!! Thank you so much to Vicky Ellison for bringing this to my attention. :-)  Click on the link below to watch/read the story:

Cancer Survivor Meets Her Bone Marrow Donor for First Time on GMA
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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

It's Day +11 and Kethan continues to be doing quite well! He is still having fevers, but they are becoming less frequent and the doctors don't believe they are due to an infection. Go Kethan! We love you and are rooting for you!
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Friday, August 17, 2012

Update on Kethan

It's Day +7 and Kethan's mom writes,"Fevers have started! Hope they are not infections. Kethan is still doing well, aside from the fever, which actually, fingers, toes and everything else, crossed, seems to be at bay. Apparently, fever and transfusions are daily occurrences in the BMT world!"
 
 -This photograph was taken on Day +6, before Kethan started running a fever.
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