9—that is how old Karol is. He is currently fighting acute myeloid leukemia. 3—that is the number of life-threatening illnesses he has had to face so far. 25—that is how many liters of intravenous fluids the child receives over the course of a week. 50—that is the number of bone marrow aspirations he has undergone. 300—that is the number of blood draws he has had. 3—that is how many days the boy has spent at school in his life. Karol needs 1 matching bone marrow donor who will give him a chance at a new life. The number of donors available for the boy anywhere in the world: zero. That is why new donors are needed! Register—it may be you who is Karol’s “genetic twin” and can give him a chance to recover.
Karol is only 9 years old, yet in his life he has been through more than most adults. As a newborn, he overcame sepsis. When he was 6, he developed acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which he fought for 2 years. He won.
During the last summer holidays, his condition began to deteriorate again. As a result of the debilitating but necessary previous treatment, Karol developed myelodysplastic syndrome, which transformed into acute myeloid leukemia. The boy’s only chance of recovery is a transplant of hematopoietic stem cells. However, among more than 30 million registered donors worldwide, not a single one was found to be a match for Karol. The only chance is to find a donor among people who are not yet registered.
The chances of finding a potential donor are, on average, 1 in 20,000. However, with a rare genotype, the odds may be as low as 1 in several million. Unfortunately, that is the case for Karol. “We did not find a matching donor among the many millions of people already registered worldwide,” says Dorota, Karol’s mother. “That is why it is so important that new people continue to register. The more of us who do so, the greater the chance of finding a matching donor for Karol. This is very urgent.”
Like every child his age, Karol would like to play outside with his friends, but his illness prevents him from making those plans a reality. Leukemia did not even give him the chance to meet the children his age at Primary School No. 17 in Wrocław, where he was enrolled. He dreams of returning home, playing, learning, having a normal childhood and never again being limited by illness. Karol is a true warrior and does not give up in his fight against the disease. “During another difficult blood draw, I told Karol that Mum would have a needle too, so he would not be going through it alone. He looked at me seriously and said he did not agree, because he loves me very much and does not want me to suffer as he does,” says Dorota, Karol’s mother.
Anyone who is generally healthy, aged 18–55, weighs more than 50 kg and is not significantly overweight can register as a bone marrow and stem cell donor. Registration drives for Karol will take place over the weekend of November 18–19 at several locations in Wrocław: Magnolia Park, Pasaż Grunwaldzki, the Christmas Market, and Primary School No. 17 on Wieczysta Street. You can also register online: www.dkms.pl/karol. The DKMS Foundation will send a registration kit to the address provided by the person registering; it only needs to be completed and returned to the Foundation’s address.
One in five patients does not find their “genetic twin.” Let us not allow Karol to fail to find his donor.