Unfortunately, as Graham is adopted, he doesn\'t have an HLA-identical sibling to act as a donor for him. So the Red Cross here in Australia searched the Bone Marrow Registries worldwide for 9 months to find a match.
Graham has a rare tissue type and a match was not found.
Thanks to generous donations of over $400,000, Graham was able to travel from his home in Melbourne, Australia to Seattle in the USA for a revolutionary, life-saving stem cell treatment in April 2008.
On Wed 6th August, he was the 8th person in the world to receive a Stem Cell Transplant using stem cells grown in the lab from an umbilical cord.
The treatment was a complete success and he is now leukaemia free.
He is back in Melbourne, recovering from the treatment but still has outstanding medical bills of $416,000.
|