Donors responded from across the globe to the plight of the child diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia at five months old.
After a worldwide search for a stem cell donor, a match has been found for Baby Mackenzie Friedman and she will have her transplant later this month.
The bright-eyed 10-month-old from Johannesburg caught global media attention after she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) in May and her family launched an urgent public appeal to find a donor to save her life.
Only five months old at that time, Baby Mackenzie became known as “Mighty Mack” on social media for her bubbly smile and fighting spirit as she underwent regular blood and platelet transfusions in between chemotherapy treatments.
On Thursday, her mother, Megan Mackenzie, said the news of the donor match was “a huge relief” for her and baby Mack’s father, Bronson Friedman.
“On my birthday in August, we were told that Mack was in remission and that a match had been found. It was a really good day.
“Earlier in the year when the appeal was launched to find a match, Bronson and I were cloistered in the hospital as she was so sick and we didn’t really know what was going on outside. The family were overwhelmed by the response to find a match,” said Mackenzie, adding there was more good news: she is pregnant again and Baby Mack will have a new sister next year.
Since she was born in January, Baby Mack has spent only four weeks at home. Mackenzie said they hoped she would be home for her first birthday on January 5.
“She has been home for three weeks and loves bubbles, puzzles and splashing in the pool.
“She’s the cutest little thing, she’s so funny and determined,” said Mackenzie.
Baby Mack will go back into hospital next week where she will have pre-conditioning chemotherapy before the transplant.
In an update on the Mighty Mack Facebook page, her family said: “Her donor has agreed to give actual marrow as opposed to stem cells as these have a better chance of grafting and a lesser chance of graft vs host disease but could take longer to graft (take) than stem cells (14 days as opposed to 10 days).
“Doctors are however still hoping that they can all be home ‒ healthy & cancer free, in time for Mack’s first birthday on 5 January.”
DKMS Africa (formerly The Sunflower Fund), a stem cell donor registry which was involved in the search for a match for Baby Mack, said: “At such a tender age, she had galvanised the whole world to act to register to be stem cell donors.”
On Thursday, DKMS Africa executive director Alana James said: “This little girl’s journey garnered global interest and we were very happy to have worked alongside the family to reach this point.
“We deeply appreciate the family’s engagement with the public across a number of platforms which has driven increased awareness and donor recruitment. Our vision is to give every patient a second chance at life and this can only be done through an increase in registered blood stem cell donors.
“We appeal to donors from all ethnic backgrounds to register today and help build a greater pool of prospective matches for patients who are affected by life-threatening blood diseases and in need of a blood stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor,” said James.
There is an urgent worldwide need for donors from all ethnic backgrounds. Anyone who is between the ages of 18 and 55 is eligible to register as a donor.
The process of donating blood stem cells is as painless as donating blood. To register as a donor is a quick process using a non-invasive cheek swab.
Once you have registered online, a swab kit is sent to you via courier and then collected when you have completed the process.
For more information or to register as a blood stem cell donor, go to www.dkms-africa.org or call 0800 12 10 82, weekdays between 8.10am and 4.30pm.
Independent on Saturday