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A five-year-old boy who has been inspired by the fight against cancer has been allowed to make a life-saving stem cell transplant.
Oscar Saxelby-Lee had to face a race against the clock when his aggressive form of leukemia worsened.
After receiving his diagnosis at Christmas, Oscar had only three months to find a stem cell donor. But after her parents' call, an impressive 10,000 potential donors showed up for testing.
A record number of 4,855 people queued in the rain at an open house at his school, the Pitmaston Primary in Worcester, in March.
Worcester Guild Hall cleans woman to find Oscar Saxelby-Lee, a stem cell donor
Oscar Saxelby-Lee, five, needs a stem cell donor after fighting a particularly aggressive form of leukemia. He is pictured here with his parents Olivia Saxelby and Jamie Lee
DKMS, the charity that tests the swabs, said its previous record for a registration event was 2,200.
Last month, it appeared that a match had been found and tests performed this week showed that the young had no more cancer cells in his bone marrow after chemotherapy. This means that a stem cell transplant can now take place.
In a Facebook post, 23-year-old Olivia Saxelby and 26-year-old Jamie Lee said, "You can imagine how proud we are all of us and how proud he is of himself. Come on my boy.
Oscar is undergoing treatment at the Birmingham Children's Hospital and his parents have encouraged people to continue giving blood because he still needs daily transfusions.
Oscar had been undergoing chemotherapy since his diagnosis on December 28, but more aggressive treatment will be needed to defeat the disease.
Her parents Olivia Saxelby and Jamie Lee of St Johns, Worcester, began to worry for the first time when they noticed unexplained bruises on her body.
Pictured are some of the 4,800 donors who queued in the rain at the doors of Pitmaston Elementary School in Worcester last month
Oscar, photographed before he became ill, was diagnosed with leukemia in December after his parents had noticed unexplained blues on his body.
Mayor of Worcester, Jabba Riaz, has stamped his mouth with two buds at the Worcester event, where more than 1,000 people found themselves
In March, 1,090 potential donors were rubbed at the Worcester Guild Hall.
A woman smiles in the hall of the guild in Worcester and shows the three buttons that she had used to rub her mouth
HOW DOES THE TRANSPLANTATION OF STEM CELLS WORK?
As a treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), stem cell transplants act by replacing damaged or destroyed blood cells with chemotherapy.
Having a stem cell transplant means that the body can support higher doses of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.
During chemotherapy, while drugs destroy cancer cells, the same goes for healthy blood cells, which are essential for the proper functioning of internal organs and the immune system.
If too much of them are destroyed, it can be deadly. Physicians must therefore control the number of chemotherapy treatments a person has undergone. They want to destroy as many cancer cells as possible without killing a lethal amount of healthy cells.
Having a donor means that the cells killed by chemotherapy can be replaced by donor stem cells – which turn into red and white cells when injected into the body – helping the patient recover faster from the grueling treatment.
Since stem cells are taken from the blood of a donor, they are preferable to bone marrow transplants, which must be performed under general anesthesia.
Source: Cancer Research UK
ALL is a rare disease and affects only about 650 people in the UK each year, about half of whom are children.
It is a fast-growing aggressive cancer that causes the release of a large number of underdeveloped white blood cells from the diseased bone marrow.
These blood cells continue to spread and cause symptoms such as fatigue, breathing difficulties, pale skin, fever, bone and joint pain.
Oscar received 20 blood transfusions and four weeks of chemotherapy.
Olivia Saxelby and Jamie Lee of St Johns, Worcester, have called for a match after Oscar's diagnosis.
Their goal was to have as many people as possible enroll in the blood stem cell donor registry as part of a "Hand in Hand for Oscar" campaign.
Olivia, 23, said: "We did not have the impression to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but looking at the cheeky smile, courage and determination of Oscar, we have managed to gather our forces.
"From that moment of fear and confusion, our family has grown stronger than ever. Oscar reminded us how to fight again and how brave he was.
"Not once, he has shown weakness, he has not ceased to amaze us during the most difficult moments and it is for us a real warrior.
"Oscar is a fun, energetic and energetic five-year-old who deserves to live alongside other soldiers who fight such horrible diseases.
"Not only does he need to live a normal life that a child should live, he now needs someone else to save him."
WHAT IS ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA?
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a type of blood cancer that forms from young white blood cells in the bone marrow.
There are approximately 810 new cases in the UK each year. In the United States, ALL affects about 1.7 adults per 100,000.
Everyone can develop EVERYTHING, however, this mainly affects young people.
Many of the symptoms of ALL are vague and resemble those of the flu, such as:
- General weakness
- Tired
- Fever
- Frequent infections
- Easy bruising or bleeding, including nosebleeds, heavy periods, and blood in the urine or stool
- Unexplained weight loss
- Bone or joint pain
- breathlessness
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Feel full
- Skin paler than normal
The risks of developing an ALL include radiation exposure, smoking, being overweight and weakened immune system.
Research suggests that being badfed and exposed to childhood infections could reduce a person's risk.
The main ALL treatment is chemotherapy. Patients may also receive radiation therapy, steroids or a bone marrow transplant.
Source: Cancer Research UK
To join the Stem Cell Donor Registry, visit DKMS.
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