Adrianne
Adrianne's history
My name is Marichu, starting from the 25th week of pregnancy of my daughter Adrianne, I found out that my daughter had to undergo continuous intrauterine blood transfusions (three times a week). At birth, on 28 August 2013, she was diagnosed with heart failure and fetal hydrops, at the age of 4 months she was officially diagnosed with Thalassemia Major (a severe form of haemolytic anemia, i.e. a disease of red blood cells deficient in hemoglobin , exposed to continuous and rapid destruction) at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical Center (SKMC), Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates. For the first 4 years of life, she received continuous blood transfusions every 3 to 4 weeks, which sent her into crying fits with many complications. Unfortunately, no one in my family was compatible with her. Adrianne's father and older brother were both only 50% compatible, while I was 70-80% compatible. The UAE government is fully in favor of the bone marrow transplant procedure, but on one condition: we had to find a perfectly matched donor. Unfortunately, our quest to find a 100% perfectly matched donor has yielded no results. Then, through a Filipino-Canadian family who had almost the same case as Adrianne, they were lucky enough to find a compatible donor through the DKMS Foundation. I immediately sent an email to the organization regarding Adrianne's case. After a week, Ms Annegret Werzner kindly replied to the email. With words of hope she gave the approval for Adrianne's free treatment, one cannot imagine my husband's and my happiness. Looking at the sky, we will never stop thanking God for this miracle through the DKMS organization and Dr. Lawrence Faulkner of the Cure2Children Foundation. I still remember how much I cried during my Skype meeting with Dr. Lawrence, especially when he reassured me: "Mom, please don't cry, the results are promising." I remember now as now the comforting words of Dr. Lawrence. If Adrianne hadn't received a bone marrow transplant procedure, she would have been tied to constant blood transfusions with the inevitable dire consequences over the years until her passing. I can only continue to praise God for introducing me to Dr. Lawrence and Dr. Stalin for the exemplary skills of the medical team. Our beloved Adrianne was successfully treated on November 23, 2017 at Sankalp-People Tree Hospitals BMTU, Bangalore, India. Adrianne is now a strong and healthy 7 year old girl, a smart girl, a real leader in her school and in our home too. Heartfelt thanks to everyone for this wonderful miracle. Marichu and Adrian Bautista.