18-month-old Mackenzie Friedman got the “All Clear” after her 6-month bone marrow transplant biopsy; Mack is progressing well despite her low immunity.
Johannesburg, South Africa (20 July 2022) – It has been four months since we shared an update about Mackenzie “Mighty Mack” Friedman. In April of this year, she rang the cancer bell to signify the end of her journey. Thankfully, she is still making good progress, and her family continue to advocate to support children in need of bone marrow donors.
Mighty Mack was formally diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) on Wednesday, 12th of May, 2021 and confirmed cancer-free on the 13th of April, 2022. If you have missed her cancer journey, we detailed it here on Good Things Guy.
Having celebrated 18 months this month, as well as being six months post bone marrow transplant, July has been filled with reasons to smile. However, there were a few concerns as Mack started showing a few worrying health signs. For most babies, a rash or puffy eyes wouldn’t be a concern, but for Mack and her family, these symptoms could be an indication of any number of bad things.
Thankfully, after a few tests, Mack’s doctors could confirm she was just struggling with minor infections due to low immunity, a common occurrence as her donor marrow works its magic. She was scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy, her very first one since the transplant, last week to give the family an update on her current health and how her body was adapting to the donor marrow.
The news came back really good! She is still in remission and, despite the low immunity troubles, is making good progress in her recovery. We are so happy to hear that she continues to progress. As Mack rebuilds her strength, her immunity will get stronger, and these smaller infections won’t be as prevalent.
Mack is able to celebrate this milestone because a generous donor underwent the process to become a bone marrow/stem cell donor. If you would like to join the heroes saving lives through these donations, you can find out more below.
You can follow Mack’s progress on her Facebook page here.
You can sign up as a bone marrow donor at www.dkms-africa.org (formally known as The Sunflower Fund) or www.sabmr.co.za. The Bone Marrow Registry is international, so if you are overseas, you can still register and get tested. If you have already signed up through one of the services, you do not need to register with a new one. The donor system is centralised, so all details are available to each organisation.
You will be notified if you qualify to be a donor. To register, there is no blood or needles involved, just a cheek swab. Registering is free of charge.
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