Only 25% of patients find a 100% matched family donor.
Josué Rosario del Valle, allogeneic bone marrow transplant patient, Dr. Alexis Cruz Chacón, hematologist oncologist and founder of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program for adults at the Auxilio Mutuo Hospital and Rosin Cordero, certified nurse in oncology and member of the Bone Marrow Transplant for adults at Hospital Auxilio Mutuo. Photo: Medicine and Public Health Magazine.
It is estimated that only 25% of patients requiring transplant of bone marrow of the allogeneic type, which is when they require the stem cells of another donor, they manage to find 100% compatibility in a relative. Fortunately, for Josué Rosario del Valle, his brother was that compatible donor.
Josué’s story began one morning when he woke up with a fever and went to his family doctor, where they carried out several studies and tests and it was found that he had mycoplasma, an infection caused by bacteria. Weeks passed and the tests were done once more, however, his doctor began to notice that his platelets were low and despite the multiple tests that followed for several dates, he did not improve, to the point of having the platelets in 3,000 and need a transfusion.
“After that, I went to the first Mennonite Hospital in Caguas and in the emergency room, they told me it might be a mistake and they did a lab once more and I had the platelets at 1,000, then they gave me a transfusion. The specialists thought that he had hemorrhagic dengue and that with a specific treatment it would return to normal, but the days went by and the same thing kept happening, the platelets they kept going down and there was no improvement,” said Josué.
During this process, he went 22 days without a diagnosis, until they performed the bone marrow for the first time and the result was that I had aplastic anemia, a condition that occurs when the body stops producing the necessary number of new blood cells, causes the patient feel fatigued and increase the risk of infections and uncontrolled bleeding.
Josué, during this process, understood that he needed a transplant of bone marrow and there he was referred to the Hospital Auxilio Mutuo, the first medical center to perform transplants of bone marrow allogeneic in Puerto Rico, since 2007.
“After several days I knew I needed a transplant and they asked me for a donor, my brother offered himself and it turns out that we were 100% compatible, which rarely happens. I feel fine thank God, I haven’t had any transfusions “he said.
There, Dr. Alexis Cruz Chacón, hematologist oncologist and founder of the Program of Transplant of Bone marrow for adults at the Hospital Auxilio Mutuo, treated him together with a multidisciplinary team.
“My brother arrived at the hospital with Dr. Alexis Cruz to set the date of the transplantsince I was transfusing myself with platelets every 3 days, and everything was streamlined. December 28, 2021 was my transplantmy procedure was four days of high-dose chemotherapy, one day off, and the transplant“explained the patient.
The procedure was successful and Josué was grateful for being able to overcome this stage, in addition to receiving the treatment, he had the support of his relatives and the health professionals from the hospital who always accompanied him.
“My dad was, in part, key because he gave me the support I needed and stayed with me throughout the treatment. I am very grateful to this clinic, to Dr. Alexis Cruz and the entire work group. It gives me feeling because it was very strong,” he said moved.
The indispensable multidisciplinary support
One of the health professionals who was providing support to Josué and other patients was Rosin Cordero, a certified oncology nurse and member of the Transplant of Bone marrow of the hospital.
She emphasizes that it is important for patients to trust doctors and professionals, so that they feel confident regarding the treatment, that they understand their condition and can manage it. “Create that bond of empathy with the patient It’s important, since he spends a lot of time with us,” he said.
“When you are an oncologist nurse, you have a certain attachment to patients and even if they tell you that you have to have a certain distance, it is impossible because you have at patient daily with you” Cordero added.
In addition, he also remembers when Josué first arrived at the Hospital and is glad to see how he has recovered.
“One of the experiences I have had is with Josué. He was a boy who arrived in a wheelchair at the clinic and today he is fine and those are the things that gratify us, knowing that the things we do are being done well “, he added.
Bone marrow transplant in Puerto Rico
The Auxilio Mutuo Hospital is one of the pioneering medical centers in transplant of bone marrow. In this regard, Dr. Alexis Cruz Chacón highlighted that “in Puerto Rico since 1998 transplants of bone marrow. The first ones that were carried out were autologous or using stem cells of the same type. patient and since 2007 we began to perform allogeneic transplants in adult patients. Once we begin to perform it at Auxilio Mutuo, we give patients the opportunity to have these procedures performed in Puerto Rico.”
In addition to this, in June 2020 the specialist explained that they inaugurated the Ambulatory Multidisciplinary Clinic for patients of transplant of bone marrow at the Hospital “and to date we have performed 323 transplants, of which 69 have been allogeneic and 254 have been autologous,” said Chacón.
Usually the types of transplant of bone marrow autologous, are performed for the treatment of multiple myeloma and some types of lymphoma, while the allogeneic type is used for conditions such as Josué’s, acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes.
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