Keeping the Faith

2001 Young Cancer Survivor: Sultan Sayed's Story

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) has named 15-year-old Sultan Sayed as the NMDP's 2001 Young Cancer Survivor as part of National Cancer Survivors Day, which will be held on Sunday, June 3, 2001.

At age 9, Sultan was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. His physicians knew that the only chance for Sultan to survive was an unrelated marrow transplant. So, they began to search the NMDP Registry of volunteer donors. Sadly, Sultan's search for a donor yielded a result that is heard all too often. The first donor identified for Sultan was an identical match - but that donor made the decision not to donate. Shortly after that, Sultan's disease reached a critical phase and the doctors gave him only four weeks to live.

Luckily, another donor was identified for Sultan, and thanks to the commitment of a Brooklyn, N.Y., police officer - Sultan is now celebrating 5.5 years of survivorship - and enjoying being a teenager. "It is really something emotional, I can never pay him back - but now he is like my second father!" Sultan explained.

Asian and Pacific Islander patients are less likely than patients from other racial/ethnic groups to find a matching donor from the NMDP's Registry of more than 4 million potential unrelated marrow and blood stem cell donors. Despite targeted recruitment efforts, which since 1996 have increased the number of potential Asian and Pacific Islander donors from 140,712 to 262,768, they are still underrepresented on the Registry. Since his transplant, Sultan continues to spread the word about the need for more committed donors, especially South Asian donors, on the Registry. "Patients should keep the faith," said Sultan. "And donors should donate because it is a wonderful thing!"