A California woman just two weeks from giving birth to twins is begging for help as she fights for her very life.
As per ABC, 36-year-old Susie Rabaca is due to give birth around December 6. The issue? She’s been diagnosed with leukemia.
Susie told how she started to feel sick earlier on during her pregnancy, only to be informed she had cancer after seeing doctors.
Sickness begins
“I started feeling sick and went to the doctor, and found out I had leukemia,” Susie explained.
Already a mother of three, the 36-year-old needed a bone-marrow transplant. Her family were quick to rally around her, but her sister’s 50 percent match is not enough to treat the aggressive acute myloid leukemia attacking her system.
A match needed
Susie needs a 100 percent match if a transplant is to be performed, but her mixed Latino and Caucasian heritage is making it difficult to find a donor.
Julie Korinke, of Be the Match, said: “In order for a blood stem cell transplant to work, you need to find a match who has similar DNA and ancestry to you.”
Despite there being 30 million people on the worldwide registery, there’s not one who is a perfect match to Susie. As a result, more donors are needed to sign up in order to get the match they need.
Susie and her family have been left with little choice but to try and source as many new donors as possible, though Susie herself knows it’s now a race against time.
“Sign up to be the match. It’s a simple swab of your cheek. If you are my match, then it’s a simple blood draw,” Rabaca pleaded in an interview.
“And you can save my life.”
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We wish Susie all the best in finding a match, and would encourage people to sign up as donors in a bid to help her find what’s needed.
Help us help Susie by sharing this article on Facebook. It could be that together we can save he life.
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