Thursday, September 16, 2010

Thalassemia (WHAT???) The children cry out for help.

Never heard of it???
Well the predominent countries are, India, Pakistan and Iran with millions of sufferers.



Thalassemia minor is an inherited form of hemolytic anemia that is less severe than thalassemia major. This blood smear from an individual with thalassemia shows small, pale, variously-shaped (poikilocytosis) red blood cells.
These small red blood cells (RBCs) are unable to carry the sufficient amount of oxygen required by normal RBCs.

Cells require oxygen (O2) to live, because O2 is what our body cells feed off.
Without O2,  cells will starve and die. .
When you breath in air you get approximately 21% O2 as you inhale.
Transported to your lungs it hops aboard the fresh blood's haemoglobin in RBCs pumped from your heart.
Via circulation it then gets transported all over your body to feed and revitalize billions of cells to keep you alive.


Treatment for these children is a blood transfusion every month.
Without this treatment the sufferer would die.
And what about the children who's parents cannot afford this??

There is also a cure, but it is an expensive one, and not one that is readily  available.
The cure is a Bone Marrow Transplant,
or for some, the Stem Cells from the mother. 
Yet this is not a hundred percent success.    

For related bone marrow donation (generally from a brother or a sister) there is really no age limit, a bone marrow harvest can be safely performed between 6 months and 60 years of age if the donor is in good health.
It is only for unrelated (donor registries) bone marrow donation that the age limit is much narrower, generally between age 20 and 40.


Money speaks,  so donations are desperately needed.
This is a despairing disease and the sadness is.... many die.
Should the Lord place it on your heart to help then your donation would gratefully be appreciated.

http://www.cure2children.org/node/222


"There will always be poor people in the land.
Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11




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