By Mata Press Service
David and Joyce Suen with baby Makoda
As an infant, she was abandoned in Chongqing, China by her parents who were too poor to keep her.
Still the baby survived until she was found and put in an orphanage.
Before reaching the age of one in 2004, the girl with no history was adopted by David and Joyce Suen, a childless couple from British Columbia.
They named her Makoda and brought her to Canada.
Makoda is now fighting the odds again
In July last year, Makoda was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. She underwent chemotherapy and it looked the child had beaten the odds.
She was in remission until early March when new tests showed that her situation was as bad as when she was first diagnosed with the deadly disease.
To survive, she needs a blood marrow transplant and the race is on to find a donor.
The BC Children’s Hospital has given her a 10 percent survival rate, according to Makoda’s aunt Terry Suen.
"Makoda needs a bone marrow match urgently and a match from the ethnic community is her best chance," Terry said.
"She has made a big difference in our lives. She brought us so much joy," Suen said.
"Makoda needs a bone marrow match urgently and a match from the ethnic community is her best chance," she said.
Dr. Kirk Schultz, a bone marrow expert at the BC Children’s Hospital, explained that the donor must come from the same ethnic line as Makoda to avoid rejection and infection.
"Immune typing goes along ethnic lines," Schultz said, noting that the hospital has been conducting searches in blood banks in China and Taiwan to find a match.
"Blood samples are crossing the Pacific," he said.
The Asian community in Canada makes up less than five percent of the bone marrow database in the country.
Suen said that the family had earlier contacted the orphanage in Chongqing in a bid to locate the kin of Makoda, who could be a perfect match, but to no avail. "If there is a sibling, that would be ideal," she said.
Suen’s colleagues at the BC Institute of Technology led by Kelly Voros have launched a publicity campaign to encourage donors to come forward.
"It was a thrilling moment when this baby arrived. She’s a precious gift to her parents," Voros said.
Her group has sent out thousands of flyers online and on the streets telling people that they can log on to www.bloodservices.ca, choose the link for Bone Marrow Registry and decide whether they want to be donors.
