Born to save his sister

Published on Wednesday 30 January 2008 09:27

YOUNG Bethanie Thomson is set to receive a lifesaving stem cell transplant from her newborn brother.

Two-year-old Bethanie was diagnosed with leukaemia when she was just six months old.

But parents Stuart Jackson and Vicky Thomson from Wallyford, East Lothian, were left devastated when she suffered a relapse, just weeks before their second child was due.

Doctors at Sick Kids told them her only hope was for the tot to have a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

The couple's lives were thrown into disarray as they struggled to cope with their newborn baby, Joshua, and seriously-ill little girl.

But they have now been given the good news that the two children's blood types are a perfect match – so Joshua can effectively save his sister's life.

Dad Stuart, 31, was given the news on Monday, after an agonising wait of several weeks for test results.

He said: "They had to be 100 per cent compatible. The news was just amazing. I was speechless when the consultant told me.

"Bethanie relapsed with leukaemia at the beginning of December. She's been in hospital ever since. She's in need of a transplant. The best chance is a sibling, but even then there's only a one in four chance that they'll be a match.

"This is a fairly new procedure. We've been extremely lucky. When Vicky got pregnant, we didn't even know Bethanie would get ill again.

"When we look at Joshua and Bethanie they are so similar in many ways. The bond between the two of them is going to be amazing. When Joshua's older, we'll tell him he saved his sister's life."

Just after Joshua was born on Boxing Day, doctors took stem cells from his placenta and froze them.

Bethanie is expected to undergo the operation in June, after she finishes her 15-week course of chemotherapy.

Stuart said: "Bethanie has been in and out of hospital for most of her life. When we were first told she had leukaemia, the whole world collapsed around us.

"Just before Christmas last year, she started going yellow. We thought it was just a bit of jaundice.

"Then we were shopping in Somerfield in Musselburgh and it got worse and worse and worse. A security guard straight away recognised what it was and told us to get her to the Sick Kids. She had developed septicaemia. If we hadn't got her there in time, she would've died."

The couple were then told Bethanie had leukaemia on January 4 last year.

They thought she had made a good recovery, but she suffered a relapse in December.

Stuart said: "She was getting ready to start Olive Bank Nursery in Musselburgh.

"When leukaemia comes back, it tends to be stronger. This time we were told she would need a transplant. Even then she will still need a lot of treatment. We're just taking one day at a time.

"Bethanie is sailing through it. She's used to the hospital environment – for her it's normal. She's still quite active and enjoys playing with the staff. The nurses are like her family.

"She loves Joshua to bits. She's helped to feed him and change him. She gets so excited every time he comes in."

The family have expressed their support for the Evening News-backed Sick Kids petition to keep children's cancer, neurology and neurosciences at Sick Kids in the Capital.

Stuart said: "The support has been wonderful – the Sick Kids is so much needed here. The consultants and nurses are amazing. We could never thank them enough. It would be very difficult for us to get over to Glasgow. Bethanie could have died if we hadn't got her here in time."