Issue 3 January - February 2012 - Manila Polo Club

FEATURE
Stem Cell Transplant - A Journey of Hope
Linds Boughton organized a lecture on Stem Cell Transplant on 11-11-11 at the
Manila Polo Club. The lecturers, Dr. Francisco Lopez and Dr. Arvin Faundo, shed light on
the non-invasive procedure; how one can be a donor to save someone’s life and how to
preserve the stem cells of a woman’s placenta at childbirth to help cure that child later.
“sam (14), do you know why Dad’s doing the
bone marrow transplant? it’s because if i don’t, i
may be gone in 2 months’ time. My bone marrow
is drying up.” Chris said this to our son the night
before we left Manila for singapore to have his
stem cell transplant on December 6 last year.
Chris has acute Myeloid leukemia.
Chris’ chance to get his life back is made possible
by a non-related donor from the united states
who made an effort to register himself as a donor.
When he got the call from the registry that his
hla (white blood profile) has been matched, he
went for further screening and when cleared, took
the time to have the procedure done so Chris
could have the transplant before Christmas, on
December 15.
12
FeATURe
by linds edralin boughton
as i write, my husband Chris boughton has just
been discharged from singapore General hospital
after five weeks in isolation in a “chamber” where
your immunity is pushed to register nil. and whilst
witnessing the horrors weighed on Chris by the
treatment, the only consolation was to hear from
doctors and nurses that We are On TraCK.
it will take another 3 months before we can return
to Manila.
God works in mysterious ways and in his perfect
time. and what better time could it be for the
transplant to happen during the season when
we await the birth of Jesus, our saviour and our
hope. The doctors said it would be 16 days
before the new cells grafted, for Chris it happened
6 days earlier when the white blood cell count
started to tick up on Christmas Day.