Cape Town - The Netcare Kuils River Hospital recently opened its doors to an upgraded and expanded bone marrow transplant unit in the heart of Organ Donor Awareness Month, making it one of the largest bone marrow transplant units in the country.
The hospital also invited back its first bone marrow transplant patient to cut the ribbon, 23-year-old Joy Schoor, alongside the haematologists who treated her then.
The unit is the only facility in the northern suburbs to provide bone marrow transplants and treat acute leukaemia.
Although adult patients are the focus, the unit also treats patients as young as 10 years old.
Schoor was just 14 years old when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia after returning from a holiday with her parents.
She recalled her journey going through three rounds of chemotherapy.
“It was not easy.
“Even though I was so young, the doctors explained everything so carefully to me and my parents and did everything they could to make us feel at home and as comfortable as possible in the circumstances.
“I am grateful that my brother, who was only 12 at the time, was an almost perfect tissue match and he agreed to donate stem cells to me for the bone marrow transplant I needed.”
Celebrating eight years in remission, Schoor is paying forward her second chance at life by studying to be a doctor and encouraging the public to join the registry of potential stem cell donors.
“The warmth, compassion and kindness my family and I experienced at the unit during this difficult time in my teenage years stayed with me and made me want to help others in their time of need. It is one of the reasons I was inspired to study to become a doctor,” Schoor said.
She will also be job shadowing at the practice that saved her life as part of her medical studies later this year.
Netcare Kuils River general manager Dirk Truter thanked the founding haematologists of the Haemalife practice, Dr Hannes Koornhof and Dr Pieter de Witt, as well as their colleagues Dr Michael Cass, Dr Simon Brett, medical officer Dr Liza Stockland and all other members for their dedication.
With the Department of Health’s approval of the application, the unit has been expanded to 19 beds, with upgraded isolation suites, and an added upper level of isolation suites.
Cape Argus