MONTREAL – Exactly one year after Mai Duong received her umbilical cord blood transplant, the Montreal mother said she is doing well.
READ MORE: Montreal mother finds much needed cord blood donor
“I’m one-year-old today,” she wrote on Facebook.
“I am forever grateful to that generous mum who donated her baby’s umbilical cord, she saved my life.”
Back in July 2014, Duong was desperate for a bone marrow transplant.
READ MORE: ‘I’ve been very lucky’: Mai Duong doing well 7 months after stem cell transplant
Of the 16 million donors around the world, only one per cent of the international donor bank is of Asian origin.
READ MORE: Vietnamese community rallies to help Montreal mother find bone marrow donor
The Vietnamese community in Montreal rallied, creating posters and a Facebook page to help her find that much needed donor, but to no avail.
Duong’s doctors decided to turn to alternative methods – stem cells – and in September 2014, an anonymous umbilical cord blood donor saved her life.
WATCH: Fighting for her life
On Facebook, Duong thanked the medical team at Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital as well as her close friends and family.
READ MORE: The possible alternatives to bone marrow transplant
“You have been there for better and for worse,” she wrote on Facebook.
“With your unconditional love, you have truly helped me to keep my head up high.”
READ MORE: Montreal mother Mai Duong back home after new stem cells
To sign up as a donor or for more information, click here.
rachel.lau@globalnews.ca
Follow @rachel_lau
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