Hillsdale Mom Finds Bone Marrow Donor in Germany

A bone marrow donor drive held in Westwood in January didn't find a match for , but a suitable donor was found for her in Germany.

Takla Farag, the mother of a student at Meadowbrook Elementary, was diagnosed last December with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a cancer which affects bone marrow cells, overwhelming healthy blood cells and making them unable to fight infections.

A 39-year-old German woman found through the program Be The Match agreed to donate stem cells from her marrow for Takla Farag's treatment for AML. She received the donated cells via an IV March 13 after a courier brought it over from Germany.

"I pray that when I recover, she will want to meet me so I can thank her in person for being my selfless hero and giving me hope and another chance at life," Takla Farag wrote in an email.

For the first 100 days after the transplant, Takla Farag's doctors will monitor her recovery closely as there are some possible side effects and complications associated with bone marrow transplants. If everything goes well, it may still take a year or two before her immune system is back to full strength.

Even though the drive in Westwood didn't find any donors for Takla Farag, two people from among the approximately 200 at that event were already contacted as potential matches for other patients, though neither was selected as a donor. Others remain in Be The Match's database and may still be able to help a patient in the future.

Takla Farag also told Patch she hopes to volunteer with Be The Match by planning bone marrow drives for other patients once she recovers.

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