Sujata's Story

Dear Friends, We have created this site so that you can follow Sujata's progress as she undergoes a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) to treat her Myelofibrosis, an extremely rare and treacherous form of blood cancer.

We are confident that she will face this tough battle with courage and fortitude, and will soon to be back in our midst as the ever smiling and vivacious Sujata, all of you have come to know and love -- or SujataDi or Sujata Mashi as her younger friends like to call her.

On Wednesday, September 19, Sujata will be admitted to Mount Sinai hospital in New York City

We know that your prayers will be with her during the tough months ahead.

A little background:

About 5 years ago, Sujata was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis, a cancerous disease that causes the bone marrow to become increasingly fibrous and renders it incapable of making healthy blood cells.  At present, there is no known cure for this ailment other than transplanting the bone marrow from a healthy, matched donor into the patient and hoping that the donated marrow will gradually start producing healthy blood cells.

If you are interested in details, you can read more about Myelofibrosis and Bone Marrow Transplant at these websites:

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/myelofibrosis/DS00886.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003009.htm

There are several medicines which attempt to treat the symptoms of this disease. Sujata has been on several of them for the last few years and they have helped a little bit. However, over the past year her condition has been deteriorating and the doctors at Mount Sinai, who have been treating her, put her on a transplant list.

About two months ago we were informed that the National Bone Marrow Donor Program had located a donor with matching marrow, a very fortunate development, since in most cases the closest match for bone marrow typically occurs in siblings. And, as many of you know, Sujata has no siblings.

In consultation with the doctors at Mount Sinai, we, as a family, decided to proceed with the transplant, fully aware that the treatment would be very harsh and debilitating, and the road to recovery would be long and arduous.
But if there is anyone who has the mental strength for confronting this challenge head on, it is Sujata. There is no doubt in our minds--- she will emerge victoroious in this fight.  And we know that all of you will be praying for her.

Postscript:

This journey of hope for Sujata has begun on a happy note. When it was confirmed that she would be receiving a bone marrow transplant, our son Rahul Kar and his fiancee, Kate Schoenthal, decided to get married -- almost a year before their  planned wedding date.  So, on Saturday, September 1, on a bright and sunny day, the two exchanged wedding vows at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in New York City.  God bless the newly married couple.