Only four months old: parents are looking for stem cell donors for the small Leevke

The parents of the small Leevke from Hamburg are desperately seeking a stem cell donor for their daughter.

Such as the German bone marrow donor file (DKMS) writes on Facebook, suffers from the four-month-old girl to a severe disorder of the immune system, the so-called Hämophagozytischen Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Only a stem cell transplant could save the life of the girl. “Our time together was much too short”, – quotes the DKMS Leevkes father. “Leevke could still make its own steps in life, no best build friendships, not own adventure experience, or just head-over-heels fall in love with someone. All this and much more should they be allowed to experience.“ The parents hope that as many potential donors register on the website of the DKMS.

The doctor said the "Hamburger Morgenpost", with the matching donation, the chances of recovery are good. The variant of HLH, under the Leevke is suffering, therefore, is particularly tricky: While the symptoms can be treated, but return of the disease. Currently Leevke be treated with cortisone preparations and chemotherapy. A matching donor for stem cells, &quot find but;the healthy cells of the donor in Leevke can then develop a complete a new, working immune system, so that you kann&quot lead a normal life;, the doctor said.

More than seven million potential donors are registered

The DKMS was founded in 1991. Germany is a model country when it comes to registering as a bone marrow donor: More than 7.8 million people are registered here, according to the statistics of the Central bone marrow donor register. Almost 7000 of them were taken in the past year, blood stem cells.

But the fight against blood cancer is still a big job: According to the DKMS, a person receives every 15 minutes, this diagnosis, many patients are children and young people. However, one in ten of the Sick is still no donor. Nearly 8000 people die in Germany each year of leukemias, because the normal blood production is disturbed by the proliferation of abnormal white blood cells. A prominent victim of 2016, the former foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle was.