Mum of two Courtney-Jade Edwards, 22 from Newport is issuing an urgent plea for eligible people to sign up to the Anthony Nolan stem cell register.
This comes after her baby daughter Dolcie-Mae was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder at just four weeks old.
After falling ill, and being unable to gain weight, doctors thought she had a viral infection. Dolcie-Mae was later transferred to hospital in Cardiff for a bone marrow biopsy and was diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocystosis (HLH). Her parents were told that she urgently needs a stem cell transplant to survive.
Just before Christmas, Docie-Mae was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle from her home in South Wales where she is receiving specialist treatment. She will remain in hospital in Newcastle until a matching stem cell donor can be found. Her mum Courtney has been staying with her, away from family and three-year-old daughter, Dollie-Rae and Dad Ashley away from his two sons.
Courtney said, ‘No family should have to go through such an awful journey, watching their child fight a battle bigger than themselves.
‘You could help give families like ours a chance to make memories by signing up to the register today.
‘When Dolcie Maes’s dad, Ashley and I found out our daughter had HLH we were devastated. We had no idea about this rare blood disorder until she was diagnosed. To hear that our daughter’s body was attacking itself was just so heartbreaking. Knowing there was absolutely nothing we could do but sit beside her and pray for better days was awful, leaving us feeling so helpless.’
The stem cell transplant charity Anthony Nolan is searching worldwide for a donor whose tissue type matches Dolcie-Mae’s and is willing to donate their stem cells to give the three-month-old a second chance at life.
A stem cell transplant, or bone marrow transplant, is a treatment for blood disorders like HLH, sickle cell anaemia, and aplastic anaemia or blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma . During the treatment a patient will receive healthy stem cells, from a donor, which grow to create new healthy blood cells and platelets.
Dolcie-Mae’s family are appealing for young people to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell register to help save the lives of patients in need of transplants.
‘Help give patients like my baby girl a second chance at life. A stem cell transplant from a stranger, someone like you, can be their only hope. Please join the stem cell register. ’Courtney added.
Anthony Nolan research has found that younger donors have better outcomes for patients; the charity recruits potential donors aged 16-30 to the world’s first stem cell register.
Charlotte Cunliffe, Director of Register Development at Anthony Nolan, says: ‘It’s heartbreaking to think about what little Dolcie-Mae and her family are going through and we are supporting them through this uncertain time.
‘At Anthony Nolan we give hope to families affected by blood cancers and disorders, but we can’t do it without the lifesavers that sign up to our register.
‘If you are aged 16-30, please sign up to the Anthony Nolan register online and send back your swabs. You could be the match that someone like baby Dolcie-Mae needs to survive.’
To find about more head to:Anthonynolan.org/supportbabydolciemae
People who are unable to join the Anthony Nolan register, or are aged 31 and over, can support the charity’s work financially. It costs Anthony Nolan £40 to add each new potential lifesaver to the register which covers recruiting a donor, collecting their sample, and analysing it to find out their tissue type.