Politics
Tuesday February 12, 2008
Frozen Umbilical Cord Stem Cells Cure Toddler's Cancer
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Hilary White
BRISTOL, UK, February 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A two year old girl from Suffolk has been cured of a rare form of cancer using genetically matched adult stem cells from a Japanese donor. Last week, news reports around the world revealed Sorrel Mason, a toddler from Great Wratting in Suffolk suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia, received a transplant of donated cells from a frozen umbilical cord from Tokyo.
Sorrel's mother, Samantha Mason, told media, "Sorrel would be dead now if she had been left untreated." The little girl was given a 30 per cent chance of survival when she was diagnosed. She has fully recovered since her treatment a year ago.
Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a cancer of the white blood cells in which the abnormal cells proliferate and accumulate in the bone marrow and interfere with the production of normal blood cells. Symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, easy bruising and bleeding, and increased risk of infection. AML progresses rapidly and is typically fatal within weeks or months if left untreated.
Treatment normally involves chemotherapy, but haematopoietic stem cell transplant, involving cells taken from bone marrow or blood, is increasingly being used. Most frequently, haematopoietic stem cell transplants take the cells from the patient's own blood or bone marrow or those from a close relative. The cells used must be a close enough match to avoid immune system rejection.
Sorrel's treatment was done at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, which is a leading centre in the treatment of childhood leukaemia. Dr Jackie Cornish, director of the bone marrow transplant unit at the Bristol hospital, said their facility is among the best in Europe in stem cell transplant treatments and has been a leader in extending the pool of donors for stem cells.
"There is a choice," she said to the Evening Post. "We can have a brother or sister donor, a matched or acceptably mismatched unrelated donor, we can go to the umbilical cord blood panel and test for a match from there, or we can use a mismatched family relation, commonly a mother or father."
"We were the first to develop unrelated donor transplant in such volume, and we have all of the spectrum of donors to choose from."
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 220 - 215
- Stupak Amendment to Health Care Bill Passes 240 - 194 Saturday Evening
- Major Health Care Development - Pro-Life Stupak Amendment Vote OK'd for Today
- NY Times: Dems Banking on Later Squeezing Pro-Life Language Out of Bill in Committee
- USCCB Spokesman: "Definitely Not True" that Bishops Support Bill As it Stands
- TIME Got it Wrong - Prof. George Opposed Grandiose Kennedy Funeral
- USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholic Left
- Dirty Fighting on Abortion Funding: Word-Games and Health-Care Theatrics Boggle the Mind
- Commentary on November 6 News
- Note to LifeSiteNews Subscribers with Rogers email addresses
- New York Gov. Declares Nov. 10 Extraordinary Legislative Session for Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Washington's Pro-Family Amendment Effort Defeated - R-71 Almost Certain to Pass
- Vote Pushed Back on Canadian Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Bill to Dec. 2
- Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law
- Texas Late-Term Abortionist and Baptist Minister Admits: "Am I killing? Yes, I am"
- New Evidence Contradicts CCHD's Findings on Accused Pro-Abortion Partner
- Quebec Priest Denies Possibility of Sexual Reorientation Therapy on TV
- New Hampshire Same-Sex "Marriage" Law in Crosshairs after Maine's Law Crumbles
- Brooklyn Bishop Criticized for Recorded Message Praising Pro-Abortion Politician
- First Group of "Traditionalist" Anglicans in Britain Votes to Enter Catholic Church
Most Read this Week
- Planned Parenthood Director Resigns after Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
- Nun Defiant Following Rebuke, but Stops Abortion Escorting
- Breaking: Dominican Community Apologizes for Nun Caught Acting as Abortion Escort
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholics Left
- Over 200 Christendom College Students Protest Abortion at Planned Parenthood Clinic
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 218 to 215
- Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named
- Scottish Gay Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
- Major Health Care Bill Development - Stupak Hyde Amendment Vote OK'd
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.