OSCAR Saxelby-Lee, the young boy from Worcester battling leukaemia, has finally received his stem cell donation.
On Facebook, Oscar’s family wrote: “Thank you to everyone who registered and to Oscar’s personal donor who has given him a life-saving transplant.
“It has been a very emotional day here on ward 19 but also a very happy one.
“These cells are special, the most special blood cells we have, and we have every hope this will save our beautiful boy.
“We cannot wait for the day that Oscar rings that bell and meets his donor.”
May 28 marked the six-month anniversary of Oscar’s diagnosis with Leukaemia, which is a form of blood cancer.
Following his diagnosis, thousands of people across Worcester and the surrounding area signed up to become stem cell donors as the family’s story went viral around the world.
In March, 4,885 people descended on Pitmaston Primary School, where Oscar is a pupil, to sign up for DKMS, the organisation which tests people’s eligibility to be stem cell donors.
Thousands more signed up online after reading about his story.
A few weeks later, the family were told a match had been found for the five year-old.
Now Oscar has been given the stem cells, the hope is that the new cells, from blood taken from the matching donor, will start to produce healthy blood cells.
According to DKMS, every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is told they have a blood cancer like leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma.
Only 30 per cent of blood cancer patients in need of blood stem cell donations can find a donor within their family.
For more on Oscar’s journey, go to www.facebook.com/HandinHandforOscar
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