Kailee Wells Survives Second Bone Marrow Transplant
Associated Press
An 8-year-old Albuquerque girl with a rare blood disease has survived her second bone marrow transplant that could save her life.
Kailee Wells, who became ill with severe aplastic anemia about three years ago, underwent the transplant Monday at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
David Margolis, Kailee's physician, said it would be months before it is known whether the girl's body rejects the new marrow or begins producing healthy red blood cells.
Kailee underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments that destroyed her own marrow to make way for the new.
With severe aplastic anemia, the marrow doesn't produce red blood cells that carry oxygen; white cells that fight infection; and platelets, which allow the blood to clot.
The marrow for Monday's transplant was donated Oct. 17 by a 28-year-old doctor in China.
Kailee underwent a transplant in January with donor cells that were not a perfect match, but the transplant failed. At the time, Kailee's condition could not wait for a perfect match, so she received the best match possible.
However, doctors have appeared more optimistic about the success of the second transplant because the donor marrow is a perfect match.
Her parents have said finding the perfect donor was a one in 10 million chance.
Linda and Owen Wells adopted Kailee from China when she was a year old after her unknown birth mother left her at an orphanage in southern Hunan province.
The family moved from Albuquerque to Wisconsin last year to be closer to her doctors.
The donor for the procedure is Wang Lin, a doctor from Zhejiang province, who donated blood in May and was told in August that a survey of 30,000 donors in China revealed he was a perfect match.
Aplastic anemia is uncommon. About 1,000 new cases are discovered each year in the United States.
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