Ryan's story

Ryan was diagnosed with Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma N-MYC amplified in July 2008. He was out of treatment for just over a year when in November 2010 our lives were again turned upside down when we discovered the disease had returned in his bones and bone marrow. After a year of treatment re-staging scans in November 2011 showed that he had again achieved remission.

However just 3 months later, in February 2012, end of treatment scans gave us the devastating news that the disease has returned, this time with a tumour near his spine. In March Ryan started 4 weeks of radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy. Re-staging scans in May and August showed no evidence of disease. On the 4th September 2012 Ryan received treatment in Tubingen for a haplo-identical stem cell transplant. He is a happy, active boy who is now enjoying life to the full.

Friday 26 October 2012

The waiting game continues...

Ryan counts have responded to GCSF and so have not dropped further. Nothing can be read into this, but it does mean there is still a glimmer of hope. In the meantime plans are being made for gareth to be the donor but we will not be using the frozen stem cells in the interim period. Assuming he continues to reject the stem cells Ryan will start re-conditioning on 6th nov but the full details of what treatment he needs cannot be decided until nearer the time, it depends on the level of bone marrow function, if any. So the waiting game continues and next blood count is monday.

In the meantime plans are in place for Gareth to undergo the necessary tests for him to be the donor, starting with blood tests on Monday....

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