An Edmonton man battling a rare form of blood cancer was supposed to have his stem cell transplant on Thursday, but the surgery has since been postponed indefinitely.
Bille Nguyen, 25, and his family have spent months searching for a match and organized several cheek swabbing events to boost the number of people registered to be donors.
Last month, the family learned Susan, Bille’s older sister, was a match but the surgery was put on hold after his aggressive cancer showed no signs of slowing down.
“The transplant works best if the cancer is in remission and we’re just struggling to get him there,” Susan explained.
No date has been set for the potentially life-saving transplant and Susan said the family is focused on keeping Bille positive.
“Throughout this entire roller-coaster, it’s been a nightmare for our family. It’s just horrible and heartbreaking,” she said. “We thought, ‘If there are other people out there like us and they don’t have that miracle match, then that’s even worse than what we’re going through.’”
More patients still waiting for a match
According to the Canadian Blood Services, patients are more likely to find a match within their own ethnic group; about 28 per cent of the current stem cell registry is made up of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds.
Susan said there are 181 patients of Asian descent waiting for a match for in the country.
The Nguyen family and One Love Event are putting together another donor drive this weekend.
“We’re calling it United Asia, but if anyone of ethnic background wants to come, we will accept anyone who wants to expand the stem cell donor pool,” Susan explained.
The swabbing events they previously organized registered more than 2,000 people to the donor list.
“Everything that we do now, even with the swab drives and helping other people, that’s keeping us positive and that’s keeping him positive,” she said.
United Asia is taking place at the Foundry Room (10528 108 Street) on Saturday, August 25 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
With files from Nicole Weisberg
