Jamie Inglis’s treatment starts in Germany (From York Press)
Get in touch: send your photos, videos, news & views by texting YORK to 80360 or send an email»
Jamie Inglis’s treatment starts in Germany
10:50am Friday 7th September 2012 in News
By Gavin Aitchison, gavin.aitchison@thepress.co.uk
Jamie Inglis with his parents, John and Vicky, in hospital in Germany where he is undergoing treatment
THE father of York child cancer patient Jamie Inglis says the first stage of pioneering treatment in Germany looks to have gone well.
Jamie, seven, has been given stem cells from his father John as he fights to beat neuroblastoma for a second time.
Mr Inglis underwent six hours of treatment similar to kidney dialysis on Monday, which involved pumping blood from one arm, removing stem cells, and then pumping the blood back into the other arm.
Mr Inglis said doctors typically managed to extract five to ten million cells, but said: “They managed to secure 20 million stem cells from me, which is considerd to be a mega dose, so this was a successful start to the therapy.”
Jamie has already undergone chemotherapy and was injected with his father’s stem cells on Tuesday, and the family must now wait for seven to ten days to see if his white blood cells increase.
Jamie, Mr Inglis and his wife, Vicky, from Kelfield, near Selby , have been at the Children’s Hospital in Germany since last month, and are likely to be there until October, but Mr Inglis said Jamie was in great spirits.
He said: “We are quite amazed by him. He is watching cartoons and did some artwork yesterday, and he likes playing and fighting with the nurses. His spirit is amazing. For the time being, things are good and we are trying to keep his morale up.”
Mr Inglis said it was vital that Jamie was kept free of infection for the coming week or so, and said they were mindful that there was still a long way to go before he was well. The stem cells will hopefully migrate successfully around Jamie’s body and then graft and regenerate into new stem cells.
Mr Inglis said: “This time is critical as he could develop an infection or his body could reject them. The process is normally faster when the stem cells come from a parent donor.”
He said the family remained very disappointed that the Government had not funded the treatment, citing “insufficient medical evidence”, despite it being advocated by a neuroblastoma specialist in the UK.
The family has had to raise money themselves, and has so far raised £97,000 of a required £250,000.
