Mum's emotional plea after tot's life is saved by something most 'throw away'
A mum has issued an emotional plea to expectant parents after her toddler survived leukaemia thanks to something many women 'throw in the bin'.
Sarah Cripps, 37, is urging pregnant women to consider donating their placentas after giving birth, as the organ helped save her tot's life. The placenta, along with the umbilical cord, is often discarded - but it can help to treat people with blood cancer because it contains cord blood which is full of stem cells.
Unlike adult stem cell donors, cord blood does not need to be an exact match for the patient as it can develop to suit the recipient. Sarah, who is mum to twins Teddy and George, faced every parent's worst nightmare last year after she noticed Teddy, then 17 months old, had swollen glands and lumps on the back of his head.
Teddy was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia and became desperate for a stem cell transplant (Sarah Cripps/MEN)
A stranger's placenta and umbilical cord saved his life and now he has a 97 percent probability of a cure (Sarah Cripps/MEN)"When I saw the lumps, they really freaked me out. My cousin actually died of leukaemia when I was about 12 so I went straight to the GP to express my concerns," she told Manchester Evening News. Doctors were not initially worried about Teddy, but Sarah sought a second opinion within 24 hours and discovered something was 'seriously wrong' with her boy.
"The sonographer began off really chatty and accessed the lumps at the back of Teddy's head which he said were nothing sinister. But when he started doing the ones around Teddy's neck, he went very quiet," Sarah explained. "I was in hysterics when I went to bring Teddy for his blood test. I think everybody's biggest fear when someone is poorly is cancer."
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After running further tests, Teddy was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia and Sarah was told he would need to undergo chemotherapy. Despite being informed he was at the early stages, the tot's condition quickly worsened and he became desperate for a stem cell transplant. Sarah later found out Teddy had a prognosis of 13 percent.
"I convinced myself that Teddy's twin, George, was going to be a match. And when I found out he wasn't, it was like being diagnosed all over again. The floor caved out from underneath me," she recalled. Medics said there was a high chance of finding another White European match for Teddy - and thankfully, they did.
Teddy received his cord from an 11-year-old child in Spain. "My son flew through his transplant," Sarah said. "No mucositis, no pain meds, he was still eating. For me the three things that saved Teddy's life were early diagnosis, good nutrition and cord blood transplant." Now aged three, Teddy has a 97 percent probability of a cure and Sarah urges more parents to extend a lifeline for someone else.
"If I was standing there with my baby in front of a pregnant mother and said, 'My child is going to die without a stem cell transplant, and his best chance of survival is from your cord that you're going to throw in the bin - can I have it?', I don't think there's a mum in the world who would have gone 'No'," she said.
Sarah added: "You will never understand the feeling of being told that there's a way to save your child's life, but it doesn't come from medicine you can buy, but from a completely selfless human being who one day woke up and made a decision to give this gift."
You can keep up to date with Teddy's journey on Instagram @teddys_tonic. To find out more about cord donation, visit Anthony Nolan's website.
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