Kenza Durani, a one-year old Dallas native, has gone into remission and is awaiting a half match bone marrow transplant from her father. At nine months old, Kenza was diagnosed with acute myloid leukemia (AML) after a fall off a changing table sent her parents rushing to the emergency room. The fateful fall uncovered a much more difficult problem – childhood cancer.
After Kenza did not enter remission after her first round of chemo, her cancer was declared high-risk, and the serious need for a bone marrow transplant took hold. Kenza's parents, Omar, a doctor, and his wife, Henna Durani, along with their family and friends, took to the Internet to hopefully find a match for Kenza. They created the hashtag #cureforkenza.
Unfortunately, in Kenza's case, finding a near-perfect match is a struggle. Kenza is of mixed Indian-Pakistani descent, and when it comes to finding a bone marrow match, heritage matters. Registered donors of Asian descent only amount to 7 percent, or about 792,000 people, while 61 percent of the registry are those of Caucasian ancestry – 7 million people.
When Kenza's parents reached out to DKMS, a German-originated non-profit that aids families in finding a match by organizing drives and raising awareness across the country, they were able to spread Kenza’s need across the nation. With the help of DKMS, Kenza had drives in Texas, New York, Illinois, California, Florida, and a few others.
“Complete strangers who through love and compassion to help others and to help Kenza went out of their way to set up these drives repeatedly,” Dr. Durani said in regards to Kenza's drives with the help of DKMS. “It's amazing, her drives have been everywhere, churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, it's been pretty cool. Everyone has come together, across all lines.”
Kenza's half-match transplant from her father has a 50-50 chance of working. Due to Kenza's heritage as well as a very unique HLA (human leukocyte atigen), a perfect match still hasn't been found.
“We're so proud of [Kenza]. She's one year old, she has no clue what kind of affect she's had and how many lives she's saved. And one day hopefully we will tell her this story about what she's done, maybe she'll just laugh it off, or not really pay attention.”
Kenza will go on as ambassador for DKMS and be a face for under-represented minorities in order to raise awareness and hopefully bring many more into the registry. Already 2,500 more have joined thanks to Kenza. If you are interested in becoming a part of DKMS, there are a few things you need to know first.
- Every three minutes, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with a blood cancer. More than 170,000 Americans will be diagnosed with a blood cancer this year.
- People who need bone marrow or blood stem cells are not only blood cancer patients, other people suffering from blood diseases such as sickle cell anemia can greatly benefit from a donation.
- The initial process is very easy, all you do is fill out all the appropriate paperwork and use Q-tips to swab each one of your cheeks for 30 seconds.
- Lower than 25 percent of cases actually require a bone marrow transplant. The other 75 percent are Peripheral Blood Stem Cell collections, which is similar to donating blood.
- Entering the registry is not like signing a contract, if you are ever called, and unable to donate, you can. But this also means you should think carefully before being swabbed.
- Sometimes someone in need will find a match from a family member. But more often than not, they must seek help from the registry.
- For many with blood cancers, a donation is the only cure.
