Leukemia patient Mai Duong is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant -- something doctors say the Montreal resident requires within a matter of weeks.
While finding a well-matched stem cell donor is already a difficult task, the 34-year-old mother of one faces an added challenge: she’s Vietnamese.
Duong was first diagnosed with acute leukemia in 2013, when she was 15 weeks pregnant with her second child. She was forced to terminate the pregnancy as she underwent seven months of chemotherapy, putting her cancer into remission for seven months.
But it returned in May, and doctors gave her two months to find a stem cell match.
"The only option for me to get cured is with the generosity of people," she says.
Duong’s case is raising the alarm about a need for stem cell donors among Canada's minority groups, as those in need of transplants are more likely to find a donor from the same ethnic background.
Canadian Blood Services says less than 25 per cent of individuals in need of a stem cell transplant will be able to find a match within their own families and will have to turn to the public inthe hopes of finding a suitable donor.
But ethnic minorities are under-represented on donor lists in North America.
Less than one per cent of registered stem cell donors in Quebec are of South Asian descent, according to Hema-Quebec, the province’s blood services agency. The statistics are similar across Canada and in the international donor database.
"There is a cultural effect and religious effect," spokesperson Susie Joron told CTV News. "The other issue is that the biggest registries are in America and Germany, which has a big Caucasian population."
But Duong says she's hopeful that someone in her community will be a match.
She and her family have launched a website --- www.SOSMai.com -- aimed at encouraging more donors from the Vietnamese community.
“Even if you and I aren’t compatible, you might be compatible with a Vietnamese person in the future who needs your help,” Duong says in a video posted to the site.
Those who are interested are encouraged to contact Hema-Quebec in order to submit a saliva swab as a first step.
In Toronto, 11-year-old Cierra Singh faces a similar challenge. She was recently diagnosed witha rare blood disease that prevents her body from producing enough healthy blood cells.
Doctors have said there’s no treatment for her condition, and Singh, who is of South Asian descent, will require a bone marrow transplant.
Her family attended a stem cell drive in Mississauga, Ont., last week in hopes of finding a suitable donor.
"It would mean the world," Cierra's father Amarjit Singh told CTV Toronto. "She's my only daughter. We really need help from everybody to come out and get registered."
Canadian Blood Service's OneMatch program says there's currently a special need for South Asian donors between 17 and 35 years old.
With files from CTV's Vanessa Lee and CTV Toronto
