Teenager takes steps to increase number of Middle Eastern bone marrow donors

Friend’s leukaemia prompts Nadeen Issa to start campaign

ABU DHABI // When Nadeen Issa found out that her childhood friend had leukaemia, she was determined to do something about it.

“The first thing that came to mind was ‘I have to help in some way, I can’t just leave her to suffer’,” said Nadeen, 16. “So I did a little bit of research about leukaemia and found out that it was cancer of the blood and bone marrow. I did more research and figured out how to improve leukaemia patients’ survival rates. One of the most important things was bone-marrow donation.

“To have bone marrow donation, the DNA has to be a really close match, so ethnicity plays a huge part in it. With more research I found that within the worldwide databank, at that time, there were only 14 or 15 million registered donors. Of that, only 45 were Arab or from the Middle East. Not 45,000, not 4,500, but 45 only.”

Because Nadeen was too young to become a donor, she decided instead to find a match for her sick friend, Malaq. She rounded up her classmates at the American Community School of Abu Dhabi and together they created a group called Circle of Life, to raise awareness of the urgent need to register more bone-marrow donors of Arab descent.

Three years ago about 250 supporters, including the Minister of Health, Dr Hanif Hassan Ali, joined the first walk at Yas Marina organised by Circle of Life.

Last year, that number nearly tripled and Nadeen raised about Dh60,000 from corporate sponsorships and T-shirt and cake sales. The proceeds were donated to the Leukaemia Research Foundation. Her efforts also helped to add more names to the only bone-marrow register in the GCC, at the Sharjah Blood Transfusion and Research Centre.

“She has done a great job in raising awareness about it in the young generation,” said Dr May Raouf, medical director of Sharjah Blood Transfusion and Research Centre. “I mean, really, she has done a great job.”

After Circle of Life held its first walk, 16 people signed up for the register, Dr Raouf said. The register has grown from 45 donors in 2006 to 104 today.

“There is a great need for bone-marrow donors from the Middle East,” Dr Raouf said.

“It is very difficult to find a matching donor because it’s a different ethnic group and so it’s very helpful if we can register donors here from the Middle East.

“It’s really important, especially when we have lots of thalassaemia patients in the UAE and we have lots of hereditary haematological diseases, and neoplasm and leukaemia are increasing, so there is an increased need also for bone marrow transplantation, so there is a need for bone-marrow donors.”

Donors must be at least 18 years old and pass a medical test.

The fourth Circle of Life Walk for Leukaemia will be on Saturday at the Yas Marina South Circuit, starting at Gate 7. Registration is free and starts at 5pm. The walk begins at 6pm.

As for Nadeen’s friend, Malaq, she “wasn’t able to find a match, but thankfully she is now in recovery stage”, Nadeen said. “She’s doing better. Last time we talked, she was really proud.”

rpennington@thenational.ae