Monday, June 28, 2010

China Adoptee Needs Bone Marrow Transplant

Here's the story:
Michael and Sherrie Cramer adopted their daughter Katie from an orphanage in the province of Guangxi, China. They went on to adopt two more babies from China.


On June 19, 2006, at age 12, Katie was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. She completed four of five rounds of chemotherapy and was discharged from the hospital six months later.

* * *

For the next few years Katie lived pretty much a normal teenage life. Sadly, on April 9, 2010 at age 16, doctors discovered Katie had a relapse of leukemia. Undergoing a stem cell transplant, doctors have determined she needs a bone marrow transplant. To date through the National Marrow Donor Program and the Asian American Donor Program no tissue matches have been found.

At this point, time is critical. Doctors have said Katie has a window of 5 weeks that would be optimal for a bone marrow transplant. The Cramer family is in need of resources and your prayers to meet this challenge. Doctors have informed Katie’s mother that the best chance of finding the person with a tissue match is in Katie’s birth place – Guangxi, China.

July 1, 2010, Sherrie Cramer is flying to the province Guangxi, China. She is going to start a donor drive and look for relatives of her daughter Katie. There are no detailed birth records to go by. She only knows approximately where and the month/year Katie was born. We are praying women who gave up their babies to the orphanage at that time will hear Katie’s plight and come forward. Finding Katie’s birth mother could bring a 25% possibility of a tissue match. A miracle will bring a random donor match from the area or anywhere in the world.
Both of my daughters are from Guangxi Province, so this hits close to home.  Spread the word, and look to see how you might be able to help by visiting the link above.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't get the link to work. Do you know where in Guangxi? I have sources there that may be able to help, depending on location. Also, how do we see if our girls are a match?
Wendy

Anonymous said...

This is WHY closed adoptions should be ILLEGAL!!!!

Adopted persons die every day from diseases that medical history and/or family donations could haved saved them from.

I hope she is reunited with her birth family and that she receives the bone marrow and survives.

This is why every single adoptive parent should be involved in ADOPTEE RIGHTS.

travelmom and more said...

I remeber reading about a case like this a couple of years ago. It was all over the China Adoption Yahoo boards. The girl's family did find her birthparents and found out she had a couple of siblings but the family refused to help. Later that girl died because they were unable to find a match. This was a very tragic case.

malinda said...

Wendy, the link is working fine for me, I don't know where in Guangxi, but you should DEFINITELY contact the family!

Anon, I couldn't agree more. Wish it were an option with China.

Travelmom, I think you're thinking of Lydia. Her birth family did agree, and her sister was going to come to the US, but Lydia relapsed before it could happen and the doctors didn't think she'd survive another round of chemo. It was a sad case. I blogged about it: http://chinaadoptiontalk.blogspot.com/2009/02/lydia.html

Anonymous said...

I got it to work and emailed, I haven't heard back yet.

Wendy

Anonymous said...

I've heard the Girl is from Liuzhou. My daughter is also from Liuzhou so this story really hits home.
Vicki

Carol Gillespie said...

Even if Katie's birth mom is located and there are other siblings, there is only a 30% chance that they will match Katie (given the father is the same. You must between the age of 18-60 to register as a marrow donor with Be The Match registry. If you are interested in joining the Registry, go to www.aadp.org and click on request a home kit or find a registration drive in your area.

Please feel free to call me with any questions you might have about the registry 800-593-6667.