A couple, who conceived another child through IVF specifically to save their thalassemic son’s life, succeeded in its efforts after their one-year-old daughter donated her bone marrow to her sibling.
She was literally born to save.
The one-year-old saved her brother’s life by donating her bone marrow, as per a report in news agency PTI. With this, India’s first ‘saviour sibling’ experiment is a success, doctors have said.
BORN TO SAVE: THE BACKSTORY
Abhijeet, the second child of Sahdev Singh Solanki and Alpa Solanki, was born with Thalassemia major, a blood disorder in which a person is not able to make enough haemoglobin.
Thalassemia-major patients require frequent blood transfusions and their life expectancy is also less.
Abhijeet parents were advised bone marrow transplant as the last resort to treat the child, but they could not find the required HLA (human leukocyte antigen) match.
“Due to unavailability of matching HLA donors for the transplant, we opted for IVF with HLA matching,” Ahmedabad-based Nova IVF Fertility’s medical director Dr Manish Banker told PTI.
HLA typing is an established method for conceiving a child, who may donate cord blood or hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation to save a sibling with a critical illness.
Abhijeet’s father approached Banker after he found that the bone marrow of his family members, including the boy’s elder sister, was not matching.
“Bone marrow transplant from an HLA-identical donor is the best therapeutic option for thalassemia major patients. We took the challenge and created a healthy saviour sibling to save her elder brother,” Banker said.
HOPE IS BORN
Under ‘saviour sibling’, Abhijeet’s parents conceived another child through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) to save him. In 2019, Abhijeet’s mother delivered a healthy baby girl Kavya. She was found to be the HLA match for the sibling.
In March, Kavya gained the required weight and her bone marrow was successfully transplanted to her brother Abhijeet. The ‘saviour sibling’ experiment proved successful and the boy is now “risk-free”, doctors told PTI.
“Now, Abhijeet is risk-free and doesn’t require blood transfusion,” Banker said.
FIRST SUCH CASE IN INDIA?
“This is the first case in India when an HLA matching baby was born through IVF specifically to save the thalassemia-major sibling,” the director was quoted as saying by PTI.
The siblings’ father told PTI, “It gives me immense pleasure to see both my children healthy and full of life. I am thankful and will always be indebted for giving us hope to live.”
(With PTI inputs)