Sarah Lim Li Fang

One look at her and you would not have guessed that this young 21-year-old is awaiting a bone marrow transplant. Sarah Lim was going to start her Honours in Literature at University of Melbourne, having graduated from the same university with a Bachelor of Arts. Giddy with excitement is how she would have described that particular point in her life, until...

Sarah was diagnosed with leukemia on January 27, 2006, after what was originally thought to be a bad wisdom tooth infection. Despite having no history of leukemia in the family, Sarah accepted the news bravely, and attributes the calmness she felt to her strong religious faith.

Chemotherapy started immediately after the diagnosis. Sarah went through the emotional and physical pain that came along with the treatments. However, complications came one after another, and it was decided that a bone marrow transplant was the best option for Sarah.

The search for a potential donor started in March 2006, two months after her diagnosis. Sarah’s doctor asked to search Singapore’s only bone marrow registry as well as other registries in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, the United States, etc. The reason for initiating so many searches was that the chances of finding an unrelated match between a donor and a patient are 1 in 20,000.

“It was quite worrying when we first heard of no matches,” says Sarah. “One looks at the statistics: 1 in 20 000! What is the chance that the one person who has the right genetic makeup would be bothered to donate his/her marrow to me? What if that person is no longer the right age or in the right state of health?”

Whilst waiting for a matched donor, Sarah continued to undergo chemotherapy to ensure that the cancer was kept in check and did not proliferate throughout her body. Like Sarah, many leukemia patients face the same race against time.

Only in July did the BMDP find two confirmed matches for Sarah. One was from the United States and the other one from China. Sarah’s doctor chose the donor from China as the one better suited. That choice also helps Sarah’s family financially, as the costs are less than if the American donor was chosen.

Sarah is scheduled to prepare for her transplant in mid-September. “I’m excited, slightly nervous, but definitely anticipating, “says Sarah. “I look forward to when everything will be over and life goes back to what it was.”

Luckily for Sarah, a donor was found outside the BMDP registry. However, we should not have to go overseas to search for a donor for patients here in Singapore.

Sign up to become a potential bone marrow donor. You may be giving a gift of tomorrow to someone in need of a bone marrow transplant.