Houston woman seeks bone marrow donor hoping to cure rare blood disorder
HOUSTON - Many 22-year-olds are looking to start their careers, move out of their family’s house, or travel as part of the right of passage into adulthood. One local young lady has those plans on hold because of the rare blood disorder she is battling, where finding the perfect match means she can fulfill all her dreams.
“Hi, my name is Camile Williams! I’m 21 years old, from Houston, Texas, and I have Diamond-Blackfan Anemia.” said Williams, who recently turned 22 year old, in a PSA for “Be The Match”.
Williams was diagnosed with Diamond-Blackfan Anemia 10 years ago. A blood disorder so rare only 5-7 babies out of a million are born with it. Williams spoke exclusively with FOX 26 about her condition.
"An average person your hemoglobin, which is located in your red blood cells is supposed to be at least at a 14 and at the time of my diagnosis. Mine was at a four."
Dr. Ricardo Flores is a pediatric oncologist at Texas Children’s Cancer Center, he says patients “can go to live relatively normal lives if they respond to steroids early on, or if they survived their transplant at an early age.”
Steroid treatments caused Williams to gain 30 pounds in a week while she was in high school and other painful side effects.
Monthly blood transfusions became her next option, but it came with a hefty price years later.
Although she lost all the weight, and some of the pain subsided, Williams had to leave Clark Atlanta University to come back to Houston, since her treatments were better with her original doctors.
She enrolled at Houston Baptist University instead.
Williams would need a perfect bone marrow match to stop the blood transfusions, and gain her independence back.
“I will be able to go out live my life, probably, you know, live in Atlanta or California or whatever. I'm just like the possibilities would be endless I wouldn't have to be stuck or like strained to that once-a-month blood transfusions.”
However, being African-American means the odds are against her to find a perfect match.
“For people of color when you have a rare illness such as Diamond-Blackfan Anemia impacting you and then your odds of finding them life-saving cure that blood stem cell transplant is only 23%," Hope Guidry-Groves the Director at Cellular Life Solutions explains. "It is much more challenging. And so that's why, you know, we would be the match. We do encourage people to say, you can step up and you can help. And there's a way and it's by joining the registry.“
Williams is currently working with “Be The Match”, and helping her doesn’t cost you a thing. After signing up, you will receive a kit in the mail, you send in your swabs and within weeks you’ll find out if you match up with Williams, or anyone else in their database.
It’s a small sacrifice that means the world to the person in need.
“This is what you can do to take action. You can actually save someone’s life that looks just like you by donating with Be The Match. Like this is an action step for you, you can save my life by donating.“ says Williams.
If you’re interested in learning how you can help Camile Williams or others like her please visit Be The Match here.