Cape Town - Continents apart a medical miracle and history was made after a young man from South Africa received a stem cell from a donor living in Texas, in the US, who joined the US National Bone Marrow Registry more than 30 years ago.
Like scenes out of a movie, 28-year-old Ramabele Tsolo, who had been battling leukaemia since 2018, met his donor, Pete Johnson, 62, for the first time on Thursday at the International Donor Registry Conference held at Century City Conference Centre.
The SABMR (NPO) was established in 1991, motivated by concerns that although bone marrow transplants were a life-saving treatment option, they were only available to patients with a matching donor in their family. But these days, the NPO searches both locally and internationally for donors.
The International Donor Registry Conference was held from June 25 to today.
Previously, medical director and CEO for the SABMR, Dr Charlotte Ingram, said the event welcomed more than 300 delegates to the Mother City.
Despite the SABMR having access to the World Marrow Donor Association's Search and Match Service, which has more than 41 million registered donors, only a small percentage are of colour.
Tsolo, from Johannesburg, who was lacking a viable donor in his family began his search for a suitable candidate via the SA Bone Marrow Registry (SABR), which carried out a global database search to find him an unrelated donor, to make his chance of survival greater.
According to recent data, 60% of cancer deaths in the country affect black South Africans, however only 10% are registered as potential stem cell donors on the SABMR database.
A total of 2.8% of South African black patients referred to the SABMR are likely to find an unrelated donor match and for the remaining 97%, the odds of surviving are slim.
But Tsolo was one of the lucky ones, proving that miracles can happen no matter the distance, when Johnson's match was discovered. Johnson joined the US registry in 1990.
In 2019 the stem cell transplant was done successfully. The civil engineering graduate was diagnosed just weeks into his first training job in mid-2018 and went on to have his transplant in August 2019.
Tsolo was able to complete his studies, earning an Honours degree in civil engineering last month.
Thirty years passed since Johnson had signed up for donation. He was on active duty for the US Air Force at the time and is now retired from service.
Johnson is a church minister and an avid sports fan and did not hesitate the call to donate his blood stem cells.
“I was surprised as it had been so long since I registered, but not once did I think that I would not go through with it,” said Johnson.
“Once I was confirmed as a match, I wasn't nervous at all about the actual donation, as I knew I would potentially be saving someone's life.”
Johnson donated via the peripheral blood stem cell donation (PBSC) method, the safest and easiest donor method which is similar to donating blood.
His stem cells were then flown halfway around the world to Pretoria where Tsolo's transplant took place. Tsolo said it has been an emotional and grateful journey for him.
“When we didn't find a match in SA, my hopes were really crushed … the odds of finding a donor match dropped to around 1 in 400 000. I was elated once a match was eventually found, and just in time too.”
Marzelle Bothma, SABMR donor welfare officer said witnessing the meeting was heartwarming and showed the importance for people of colour to sign up as potential stem cell donors.
“Without the transplant, chances are that Tsolo would not have survived and unfortunately this is the fate of many South Africans.
“Tsolo has gone on to live a full life post-transplant and can make many more beautiful memories with his family.”
Amy Ronneberg, CEO, of NMDP said it was a moment of celebration.
“We are honoured to be a small part of Tsolo and Pete's story – they are a living example of what we work so hard to achieve together – to create the infrastructure that connects selfless donors to patients in need, giving a new chance at life.”
Tsolo was overcome with joy and gratefulness when he met Johnson.
“When I saw him, I just couldn't contain myself. I felt all of the emotions, but I am happy to have finally met him,” he said. “I am able to live my life to the fullest, because of him I have a second chance at life…”
Johnson said that he was honoured to have been able to do this for Tsolo.
“I registered as a donor in 1996, the same year he was born. I would never have thought that I would get that call but the decision was easy. He is family now.”
