Brave Lauren, aged 9, helps sister survive

Courageous Lauren Withers never hesitated when she was told she held the key to the recovery of her sister from a life-threatening illness.

The nine-year-old was the only member of her family whose bone marrow was the perfect match for five-year-old Emily. And now, after almost two months, the treatment has been declared a success.

Emily was diagnosed with aplastic anemia in April and her distraught parents, Mark and Joanne, were told she needed a bone marrow transplant to survive.

They went to hospital with Lauren and Emily's twin Jack to see if their marrow was suitable.

Lauren turned out to be a perfect match and the brave Lower Farm Primary School pupil was only too happy to come to her sister's aid.

Today, after welcoming her sister back to their home in Lower Farm, Bloxwich, she said: "I can't believe I am going to save my sister's life."

Emily went to Birmingham Children's Hospital on August 2 and Lauren was brought in on August 9 to a different ward.

Lauren's bone marrow was extracted before she was allowed home later that day.

But Emily, who attends Millfield Nursery, Lichfield Road, was kept in and given the transplant on August 10. She has been in hospital since — even celebrating her fifth birthday on Ward 15 last Sunday.

Success

Now doctors are happy the transplant has been a success and she has been allowed out of hospital to be reunited with her family.

Mother Joanne, 34, said: "Running up to the transplant Emily was not well at all and was having to have regular blood transfusions and in July she had to have chemotherapy which meant her hair fell out.

"Since her transplant she has been much happier. She has always been a happy child anyway and she still is.

"The hospital will keep a close eye on her but if she gets to the two year mark the doctors say it is all clear and will not return."

Emily was due to start at Lower Farm Primary last month, with Jack, but will now start after Christmas when she isstronger.

Her recovery ends a traumatic couple of years for the Withers family.

Her father Mark, a lorry driver, suffered an illness scare last year when he fell unconscious at the wheel. The blackout meant he lost his licence as a lorry driver on health grounds.

Today Mark, 40, paid tribute to the doctors and nurses who have cared for Emily during her time at Birmingham Children's Hospital and said the family were looking forward to a more positive future.

He said: "It's like someone's sitting upstairs and saying 'you've had enough bad luck now, mate'."

He said the family were told about Emily's condition about three months ago, adding: "The only way you can describe it is having your heart ripped out.They told us it wasn't leukaemia, but it was life-threatening and if she didn't get a transplant, we would lose her.

"Her bone marrow was breaking down, and Lauren was the only one in the family who was a 100 per cent match.

"Straight away she wanted to do it, she's been absolutely brilliant."

He said Emily, who also suffers from cerebral palsy, has fought the condition all the way and maintained her good humour despite the illness and the subsequent chemotherapy treatment.

"She understood that she had poorly blood and she was going to have Lauren's blood to make her better," he said. Mark said the staff at the hospital were "out of this world" and the family would be fundraising to support other families who find themselves in the same position.

Bone marrow is a sponge-like tissue inside the bones. It makes stem cells that develop into red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

Aplastic anemia is a blood disorder in which the body's bone marrow doesn't make enough new blood cells. The illness can be fatal and other serious side effects include an enlarged heart, heart failure, infections, and bleeding.