Little Adeline Davidson has finally received her long-awaited bone marrow transplant – and her family hope she is now on the road to recovery.
The four-year-old, from Alness, has faced an agonising two year wait for a life-changing procedure to combat a rare form of blood cancer.
And her parents Steph, 27, and Jordan, 28 have endured their own rollercoaster ride of emotions in their quest to find a viable donor for their daughter.
Over the last 24 months, the family have faced numerous setbacks, with countless delays, cancellations and failures to secure a viable donor.
Now, they have everything crossed Adeline is bouncing back after receiving her transplant at long last.
Speaking from the hospital, her delighted mum Steph spoke of the family’s relief and hope the the life-changing nature of the procedure will make the day of the operation Adeline’s “second birthday”.
She said: “We’re so relieved that it’s done, but now comes the waiting game.
“We just hope and pray that this is it for Addie.”
Adeline’s second birthday
Adeline was admitted to Glasgow Royal Children’s Hospital two weeks ago, with numerous days of taxing chemotherapy paving the way for bone marrow transplant this week.
The marrow was administered through transfusion, with the whole procedure taking just over 20 minutes to complete.
The family now face another agonising wait for their daughter’s nuetrophils (a type of white blood cell) to rise, which will show there has been a successful engraftment and intake of her donor’s cells.
Adeline will remain on immunosuppressants and antibiotics in the meantime as the family wait to see how she responds to the treatment.
Throughout Adeline’s transplant journey, her parents have been keeping her merry band of well-wishers updated with her progress.
Speaking from her hospital room, mum-of-three Steph said it could be months before they establish how effective her treatment has been.
The main priority for now is simply keeping Adeline healthy.
She said: “Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll start to see something happen but we probably won’t know for sure that things have taken for a couple of months or so until they do proper tests.”
Two-year rollercoaster ride
Her transplant marks the end of a tumultuous two-year wait for the Alness family as they battled to save her life.
In September, the family issued a second desperate plea to find a suitable bone marrow donor after first one and then a second viable candidate fell through.
One month on, medics successfully found a possible match abroad as hundreds of people pledged their support and signed-up to join the donor register.
Adeline was scheduled to receive her transplant in November, but with just six days to go health professionals cancelled the procedure as the donor had failed to provide enough cells.
Despite their disappointment, the family secured fresh hope in the form of a new donor from the register.
But there were to be further hold-ups over the last three months – first due to Brexit and then Adeline’s donor falling ill.
Now their patience has paid off, with Adeline hopefully on the path to good health.
Thanks for so much support
Throughout the course of Adeline’s journey, the Easter Ross family have received an outpouring of support from well-wishers.
Among them was Kathryn Stevenson from Sheffield who last month launched a crowdfunding appeal to help raise £1,000 to support the family.
The 58-year-old had spotted Adeline’s story and was eager to help in any way she could.
Steph is keen to thanks everyone for their kind wishes as the family looks forward to what they hope will be a bright and happy future for Adeline.
She added: “We’ve had so much support and it really has helped us to get here.”
