In the final week of our “Race Matters” mini-series, Cells4Life are raising awareness of Fanconi Anaemia.
Fanconi Anaemia was discovered by a Swiss paediatrician in 1927 named Guido Fanconi. Fanconi Anaemia is a genetic disorder with a higher prevalence in Afrikaners in South Africa and Ashkenazi Jews, FA affects approximately 1 in 350,000 births. The genetic nature of FA means that for those parents who aware that they could have a baby with this illness that they can plan ahead and bank their baby’s cord blood for the potential treatment of a younger or older sibling who is born with the condition.
Fanconi Anaemia is incredibly rare and diagnosis can be timely [1] however, those with FA usually have a congenital anomaly [2].
As we progress through the week we will look at what Fanconi Anaemia is, what the symptoms are and what the risk factors are.
Over the last 4 weeks we have introduced you to the situation that many people face when they need to turn to the stem cell register for a match and we’ve looked at some of the illnesses which may have caused them to need a stem cell transplant. We’ve looked at the opportunity parents have to privately bank their baby’s umbilical cord blood and how people of all ethnicities can help by joining the bone marrow register.
