Sister watches on Facetime as her bone marrow is handed to brother battling leukaemia
A young cancer sufferer received the gift of a lifetime from his younger sister - a bone marrow transplant.
Sydney boy Jack Bartlett, 11, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, a type of blood cancer, in May and while he has had chemotherapy, it hasn't destroyed all the cancer cells.
Last week, Jack underwent the bone-marrow transplant procedure after his sister Ava, nine, was found to be a match, The Manly Daily reports.
His younger sister, Addie, 6, was also a match but doctors chose his older sibling.
Ava was able to watch the moment the bone marrow was handed over to Jack through Facetime as she was in a seperate ward.
Mum Kate Bartlett said the procedure went well.
“Ava was back in school the following Monday. She was unreal,” Mrs Bartlett said.
“She was up walking the hospital ward that night."
Meanwhile, Jack was given a special blast of chemotherapy to prepare his body.
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“He’s just feeling rotten which is to be expected," she said.
“He was really sick last week when they did the chemo, that was horrible, but once it worked its way out of his system, he’s all right.”
Mrs Bartlett said she can't relax just yet as there's still "a lot of risk factors to come".
The family is urging people to join the bone marrow register.
To join the registry you can visit abmdr.org.au.
