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.

Monday, 17 September 2012

Day -1

At 8am I arrived at the stem cell clinic (with my sister for moral support) along with 3 other couples. I had to give myself my morning injection at 6am and was given another injection on arrival. By 9am I was connected to the machine and the harvest was underway - I managed to keep my cool and looked the other way when the needles were going in. Jackie said the needles were big and Yes they did smart quite a bit and I could feel them the whole 6 hours but maybe the process wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting!

Ryan had a reasonable night and is still doing well, he perked up after a blood transfusion and does not yet have mucusitus so is still drinking and eating small amounts of food although the chemo has effected his appetite.

And to finish the day on a positive note the doctors have just confirmed that they collected enough stem cells in the one day and so I dont need to go back tomorrow. Apparently there are currently 23 million stem cells and 2 million is the minimum requirement. The doctor explained that between 30-50% are lost during the preparation process so the actual number being given to Ryan is not yet known but he will have them all.
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2 comments:

  1. birdni17 September 2012 at 17:29

    So pleased ... but was there really ever any doubt? ;-)

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  2. Sara McGinnis17 September 2012 at 18:56

    Fantastic news :-) xxx

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