Married couple beat odds of 1 in 4 million to both donate stem cells
The London couple, originally from India, are now calling on others of South Asian heritage to sign up to the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry.
A married couple have both been called upon to donate life-saving stem cells, an event that has 1 in 4,000,000 odds of taking place, offering two cancer patients the chance of a cure.
Nirav and Kanan Chokshi individually signed up to the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry, where each person has a 1 in 2,000 chance of being selected as a match for a patient in need of a stem cell transplant. In an extremely rare circumstance, both husband and wife were both asked to donate - and both donated to adults with acute leukaemia.
Husband Nirav signed up to become a stem cell donor in 2016 and donated in 2018. After seeing his experience, wife Kanan signed up and donated in 2024.
The couple, who live in Hounslow, London, but were born in India, are now calling on other people of Asian heritage to sign up to the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry, due to the urgent need for more donors from those backgrounds.
Nirav, 43, a mechanical engineer, added: “I was approached and asked about signing up to be a stem cell donor when I was donating blood and I didn’t think twice – I knew that I wanted to do everything I could to help as many people as I could. It was only when I moved to the UK that donating blood even crossed my mind, when friends encouraged me to sign up. This then led to my donating stem cells.
You could be the perfect match that somebody needs.Kanan
“I think there is a lot of fear within our community that stem cell donation is going to be painful or difficult or cause them to become unwell, but from my experience, I can say it is not. It’s a short moment of discomfort to save or improve somebody’s life – you could be the only chance they have and what better feeling is there than knowing you’ve made such a huge difference to not only the recipient, but their friends and family, too.
“Kanan and I have posted about our experiences on Facebook and friends have come forward to say they have registered, so we hope to keep spreading the word and getting more and more people to sign up – you could be the perfect match that somebody needs.”
Kanan, 44, a school lunchtime supervisor, said: “When Nirav said he had been selected as a match for somebody and would be donating his stem cells, I was scared – I thought it would be painful and he would be sick, but the whole experience was nothing like I expected. It was such a simple process for something that can make such a huge difference to somebody’s life, so when Nirav suggested I sign up, too, I did.
“I didn’t realise that us both donating was a one in four million occasion and I feel really proud of us both. We encourage everybody to sign up to the register, but especially those of South Asian heritage.”
An incredible gift
For a successful stem cell transplant, both donor and recipient need matching tissue types – known as HLA type - and patients are most likely to match with donors of a similar ethnic heritage. It can be significantly more difficult to find a suitable match for patients of Asian, Black and mixed ethnicity backgrounds, due to the lack of suitable potential donors on the register.
Guy Parkes, Head of Stem Cell Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We would like to thank Mr and Mrs Chokshi for giving somebody the most incredible of gifts by donating their stem cells. It truly is lifechanging for those patients in need.
“We currently provide 200 to 300 donations every year, but in order to find the perfect, potentially lifesaving transplant for as many people as possible, we need more people of Asian or Black heritage and from mixed ethnic backgrounds to join the register – your stem cells could help save a life.”
Stem cells can be found in the bone marrow – a soft, spongy tissue at the centre of certain bones – and can produce all essential blood cells, including red and white cells and platelets. Stem cell transplants are used to treat a number of diseases, including some forms of leukaemia and for many, are the patient’s only chance of a cure.
When a person needs a stem cell transplant, the global registries will be searched for a tissue match. Most people on the stem cell register will never be called upon to donate, but the more people on the register, the higher the chance of finding a match for every patient who needs one. In the majority of cases, stem cells are donated through the blood stream, in a simple process that takes a few hours.