The week before Kay was diagnosed with leukemia the first time, by pure coincidence I'd seen a program on BBC 2 about treating children with high risk leukemia. This program concluded that stem cell technology was a potential treatment for the future. Since Natasha was due to be born during Kay's initial treatment we arranged for her to be born in Njimegen and her stem cells to be frozen in case Kay should ever need them in the future. Since at that time Kay had a relatively low risk form of leukemia I think that this was done more to humour worried parents than as a serious provision for the future.
Boy, I'm now glad that we took this step. Although we won't know for while if Kay will require a bone marrow transplant and we don't know yet if Natasha's stem cells are compatible - there's a 1 in 4 chance versus a 1 in 25000 chance otherwise - the idea that we at least potentially have this option is somewhat reassuring. But still, I hope we don't have the ask the question. If Kay responds well to induction therapy, we should avoid the need for a transplant.
Kay's Daddy.
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