In memory of a young Surrey girl who died waiting for a stem-cell transplant, volunteers with a foundation launched in her name “adopted” Canadian Blood Services’ donor centre in Guildford for a day last weekend.
Muskaan Gill was just seven years of age when diagnosed with Krabbe disease, which claimed her life a year later, in 2015.
There were no potential stem-cell donor matches in her family, and an unrelated donor couldn’t be found.
“She was just a normal, happy girl who loved cake, loved playing outside,” recalled her uncle, Bhavraj (Babbar) Saran.
“After she got sick, she just couldn’t find a stem-cell match – that’s what the problem was,” he added.
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In memory of the Newton-area girl, family members and friends launched Muskaan Foundation Canada in an effort to save lives of children just like her.
On Sunday (Oct. 28), the organization went about “adopting” the CBS clinic located at 15285 101st Ave., to recruit new donors – especially young adults – and fill 48 appointments.
The six-hour drive, Saran said, was more successful than anyone expected.
“We had around 100 people come out, which is just amazing,” he said. “It was probably our foundation’s best event yet, to be honest, and we had good support from the community. If you think about it, it takes awhile for one person to donate blood when they’re there, like, an hour. So from 8:30 (a.m.) to 2:30 (p.m.), there’s not a lot of time for 100 people to come sign up to donate. We just went full-blast and got through it. It was awesome, man.”
Saran, who studies kinesiology at UBC and is president of the foundation, said Muskaan’s younger brother, Armaan, in particular, has struggled with his sister’s death.
“He was six years old at the time Muskaan passed away,” Saran explained. “She was eight years old. He misses her incredibly with all his heart every day, as after she passed away, he had no one to not only play with, but grow up with. He always wanted to see her go to high school, graduate and even get married one day, but as a little kid, all that was seized away from him. He always says to me, ‘I hope enough people register so we save lives so this never happens to anyone.’”
The Krabbe disease that took Muskaan is “an inherited disorder that destroys the protective coating (myelin) of nerve cells in the brain and throughout the nervous system,” according to a description at mayoclinic.org.
On Sunday, the girl’s family and friends encouraged people of diverse ancestry to register as potential stem-cell donors and also donate blood.
Annually, hundreds of Canadians need a stem-cell transplant to treat potentially life-threatening illnesses, according to CBS spokesperson Marcelo Dominguez.
“Fewer than 25 per cent of these patients will find a family member with compatible stem cells to donate,” he noted. “For the rest, an unrelated donor is the only available source of stem cells.
“If you cannot donate blood and you’re aged 17 to 35,” Dominguez added, “another way to help patients is by registering as a stem-cell donor (via blood.ca).”
Bumping up the numbers on Canada’s stem-cell registry is what Saran and others with the foundation are working toward, among other initiatives.
“You have to match your own ethnicity most of the time, so that’s the word we’re trying to get out there,” Saran said. “With an Indian girl like Maskaan, and if they go to hospital and they need a stem-cell match, chances are the child will die because they won’t be able to find a match. There aren’t many Southeast Asians who know what stem cells are, and don’t register. We need to get them in the registry.”
In November, Saran said the foundation is planning to host an organ-donation drive, possibly at a coffee shop in White Rock, and will eventually look to partner with CBS for another donor-drive event.
It’s all part of the organization’s goal to save more lives.
“(Muskaan) passed away and really left a big hole in our family, and to this day it’s just not the same without her,” he said. “It’s tough, and you know, understanding what happened with her, I want to make sure it never happens to anyone else again, because it’s so tough dealing with a loss like that, especially a young child.”
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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