Christie cancer patient says 'her miracle baby is a blessing'

Sammy Gray with her "miracle baby" Walter

A woman who gave birth after pioneering cancer treatment said her "miracle" baby was a "blessing every day".

Sammy Gray, whose CAR-T cell therapy trained her body to fight back against cancer, feared chemotherapy had left her infertile.

But the 26-year-old from Blackpool became one of the UK's first to give birth following CAR-T treatment.

She welcomed Walter into the world in February after the innovative treatment at The Christie hospital in Manchester.

The mother-of-two told the BBC: "It's going really well. My little boy will nearly be one in February.

"I still look at him and think it is unbelievable that I have been able to have him - he is a blessing every day."

Ms Gray was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma - a type of cancer that develops in the lymphatic system - shortly after her daughter Harper was born in 2018.

She had chemotherapy and radiotherapy but then the cancer became more aggressive and progressed.

Sammy Gray, with partner Daley, daughter Harper and "miracle" baby Walter just after he was born

In June 2019 specialists decided to try CAR-T cell therapy, which was only approved on the NHS in 2018.

It is a type of immunotherapy which involves reprogramming the patient's own immune system cells to fight the cancer.

Sammy Gray said she was "determined to make the most of every minute with Walter"

Professor Adrian Bloor, consultant haematologist at The Christie, said the treatment had undoubtedly saved her life.

He added: "Sammy was one of our first CAR-T patients, and at that time the youngest."

Ahead of their first Christmas as a family of four, she said: "Harper mothers him and loves him. She is so good with him.

"But I am still over protective of him because of everything.

"He is crawling and he will get bumps, but I am very protective."

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