Asian bone marrow donor needed for 7 year old Angel Chittaphong

July 10, 2:57 PMOrgan and Tissue Donor ExaminerCathy Doheny

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7 year-old Angel Chittaphong*

 A bone marrow donor of Asian descent is desperately needed for Angel Chittaphong, a 7 year-old Laotian girl born with Alpha-Thalassemia, an extremely rare genetic blood disorder that causes the body to make fewer healthy red blood cells and less hemoglobin than normal. This means that Angel's organs do not receive the oxygen they need, and she must receive monthly blood transfusions to maintain normal hemoglobin levels and red blood cell counts to ultimately stay alive.

However, the long term effects of receiving continued blood transfusions every four weeks indefinitely can be catastrophic. Iron overload is currently a problem, and Angel is required to take oral iron chelation therapy, which causes considerable adverse side effects.

The reality is that there will come a time when the blood transfusions will no longer be effective at keeping Angel alive. Angel's doctor is uncertain exactly when this will be, as there are less than 15 known cases of children living with Alpha-Thalassemia. Very few babies with the disease survive beyond birth.

"Ultimately, Angel must have a bone marrow transplant. It would not only save her life, but would in fact, cure her of the disease, if her body accepted the new cells," Angel's mother, Cam Chittaphong, said via a telephone interview.

"Three marrow drives have been held in Angel's honor so far, and we have registered approximately 1,200-1,300 people for the national registry," she said of her efforts to find her daughter, who has been on the registry since she was born, a donor.

Cam strives to educate minorities where her family resides in Tennessee about the registry in hopes of helping others in need, like her daughter. She is currently working with leaders of the Asian community to print information about bone marrow donation in different languages, as she feels much of the assumptions made by the community as a whole are inaccurate. For example, many individuals do not realize that joining the registry now only requires a cheek swab, instead of a blood draw or a marrow sample. Nor, do most realize that the donation process can be fairly painless. In addition, she strives to emphasize to others that donating marrow is not like donating an organ, but more like donating blood, in that it is something that the body will naturally replenish after the donation process.

 For more info: Join the Be The Match National Marrow Registry, Minority bone marrow donors are in short supply (article about Angel in the Tennessean), Asian American Donor Program

*photo courtesy of Cam Chittaphong