Calling out for Asian stem cell donors

In hospital after a relapse of leukemia in May, Mai Duong, a Montrealer of Vietnamese descent, was told by her doctors that she would soon need a stem cell transplant. Finding a match wouldn't be easy, they said, because there is a dearth of compatible Asian donors in Quebec and worldwide. But Duong wasn't content to sit and wait in her hospital bed.

"Instead of not doing anything, I told myself this is going to be a fight and this is going to be a fight that everybody is going to know," she said.

In a video explaining her situation, Duong said she is having difficulty finding a comparable donor because ethnic groups are under-represented in the international (stem cell donor) registry. It seems we dont give out our stem cells and this is a huge problem.

In Quebec, fewer than 0.5 per cent of the 47,000 registered stem cell donors are of Asian descent, Laurent-Paul Mnard, a spokesperson for Hma-Qubec, said.

There is no registry in Vietnam.

"On the international level, there's a similar problem because we're talking about 1.9 per cent of (Asian) donors in the American registry and 0.9 per cent in the international registry," he added.

"There is a really important need for (donor) recruitment in the Asian community."

Dr. Gizelle Popradi, a hematologist who runs the MUHC stem cell transplant program, said patients who are not Caucasian are at a disadvantage because of the lack of well-matched registered donors. Is it a crisis? "It all depends on your perspective," she said. "If you are that one person who needs a transplant and you can't find a donor because people like you aren't represented on the registry, then sure it's a crisis."

As an advertising and communications professional, Duong knew how to spread the word fast. She sent out an international SOS through social media and her own website. She gave interviews to a U.S.-based Vietnamese television channel and local media. She reached out to the 150,000-strong Vietnamese community in Canada not just for her own sake, but for all others in a similar situation.

"A lot of people don't have that media exposure and they still need a transplant," she said. "I hope this will save my life, for sure, but I'm happy it will save many lives.

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Calling out for Asian stem cell donors