Leukaemia: Umbilical cord blood transplant saved my daughter - mum

Simona said as a result of the research, Sarah was "now fully enjoying life"

An innovative treatment for children with leukaemia has saved the life of a girl whose participation in a trial was her "last chance to survive", her mother has said.

Sarah, from Cornwall, was treated at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, which hopes to help those for whom all other options have failed.

She was given a treatment which uses blood from donated umbilical cords.

The eight-year-old's mum Simona said she was "now fully enjoying life".

Sarah, who was four when she was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, was one of 10 children involved in the two-year clinical trial.

She had previously received a number of other treatments, including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, but all had failed.

Sarah underwent treatment in 2022 and has now been in remission for a year, her mum said

The hospital said the trial saw her receive "a cord blood stem cell transplant" alongside a series of white blood cell transfusions, which were aimed at "boosting the cancer-fighting abilities of the new cord blood".

A representative said cord blood transplants were "only given when all other treatment options have been exhausted" due to the risks involved and the researchers were looking at the "effect of the white blood cell transfusions on the immune system recovery of the new cord blood".

Simona said Sarah had now been in remission for a year.

"I knew this was her last chance of life," she told BBC North West Tonight.

"The trial was basically saving her life.

"As a result of this research, Sarah is now fully enjoying life."

She said the family were now looking forward to a holiday in France, adding: "This treatment has given us all our lives back."

Simona said the success of Sarah's treatment had "given us all our lives back"

Initial results from the study have been published in the British Journal of Haematology and the trial has been expanded to recruit more patients from across the UK.

Prof Rob Wynn, the director of paediatric bone marrow transplant programme at the hospital, said Sarah was one of five children from the trial who were "in remission as a result of this effective, experimental treatment".

"Without this clinical trial, it is unlikely that any of the children would still be alive," he said.

"We know from our previous research... that cord blood cells offer the most effective treatment for children with hard-to-treat blood cancer.

"The clinical trial builds on this research and provides a treatment option for the sickest of children."

He added that researchers would now do further work to understand the treatment, "so we can refine it and further optimise it to cure children with difficult to treat leukaemia".

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