| Two-year-old Lacey Dow has been battling leukaemia since she was just 13 weeks old and is being treated at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, in Edinburgh.
She has undergone aggressive chemotherapy for much of her life and doctors told her parents Donna Smith (38) and Allen Dow (41) that her only hope was to find a matching donor for a bone marrow transplant.
The Anthony Nolan Trust, the charity, which runs the bone marrow register, searched its list of 7000 donors for possible matches without finding a match.
Meanwhile, Lacey’s family appealed for members of the public to donate bone marrow and Lacey’s dad, a member of the Territorial Army, organised a donor recruitment clinic at the Dalkeith Road barracks.
However, Lacey’s family finally got the news they had been praying for at the beginning of December — a possible marrow donor had been found.
“All we know about the one that matched is that it is somebody from Wales. It’s the best Christmas present we could have imagined,” said Donna today.
Lacey will be transferred to Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill in Glasgow at the end of January to begin preparations for the bone marrow transplant.
Although the bone marrow donor was found in Wales, the success of the appeal in Dundee could still help save a life.
“My friend hired a bus and took his whole football team to the barracks for the recruitment drive. Since then, one of the players has received a letter saying he is a possible match for someone else who needs a transplant,” said Donna. |
