Mandeeps & a miracle

Two strangers, one deadly disease and an act of kindness. How Mandeep Mann saved Mandeep Singh, an acute leukaemia patient, by donating his stem cells

- POOJA BIRAIA JAISWAL

It was March 2016. Mandeep Mann-then a young management graduate-turned-IT professional, ambitious and enterprising, an adventure junkie and fitness freak-had just parked his car in the parking lot when he chanced upon a blood donation drive poster. Mann had always been an eager volunteer. At 36, he had donated at least 20 times, if not more.

As someone in a leadership role in a reputed IT firm, he had his plate full. Still, he took out time to donate blood yet again. Just as he was leaving from the blood donation centre for work, a volunteer from the DKMSBMST Foundation India, an NGO focusing on fighting blood cancer, asked if he would like to consider donating his stem cells, too, "because that way you could save lives of those suffering from life-threatening blood disorders and cancer". Of all the things she said, the word 'cancer' stuck with him. It had been a year since his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer. They had met through common friends and Mann was besotted by her zest for life and charm. But now ever since the diagnosis, he could see her energy ebbing away. Though he had never heard of stem cells before nor had an idea of what he was in for, he knew he had to do anything that could potentially save someone from cancer's grip. He signed up. They took his cheek swab sample, exactly the way it is done for Covid-19 testing. After an examination of his sample, Mann entered DKMS-BMST's global registry of potential stem cell donors. This meant that he would be able to donate his healthy blood stem cells to a cancer patient whose blood cells were all infected. These healthy blood cells will then multiply and grow in a cancer patient's body, thereby giving a fresh lease of life to someone who otherwise had no chance of survival.