Bone-marrow transplant looks promising

Press, 3 August 1983, Page 11

Bone-marrow transplant looks promising

NZPA New Orleans Bone-marrow transplanted from an Englishman into an American leukemia victim had begun to generate cells and the girl may be able to go home in a few weeks, her doctor said yesterday. Dr Conrad Gumbart, the physician who performed the transplant, said that Crystal Beckler, aged eight, had no fever, was feeling well, and may be discharged from the hospital in two or three weeks.

Officials at Charity Hospital said that the donor, Stuart James, aged 21, had fully recovered from the procedure which was done on July 15, and may return soon to his home in Kernel Hempstead, north London. A litre of his bone-mar-row was drawn and placed in Crystal’s bookdsteam during the two-hour procedure.

Dr Gumbart said that the transplant, a painful procedure for donor and recipient, was one of only about 10 ever made between unrelated people. "There is clear evidence that the bone-marrow . . .

has begun to generate cells,” Dr Gumbart said yesterday. He cautioned that, ‘longterm survival for the child is estimated to be approximately 33 per cent, and Crystal will remain at high risk for several years.” The transplant entailed sinking a long steel needle about 200 times into Mr James’s hip-bone to withdraw the precious white blood cells it was hoped would save Crystal from a lingering death. Brothers and sisters are the best source for transplants, and parents are the next choice.

Because no-one in Crystal’s family had a precise

enough match her parents— Guy and Linda Beckler—rt eight months fighting 100,000-to-one odds of finding a compatible donor for their daughter, who has had leukemia since she was two.

Mr James, a mechanic, was found through the Anthony Nolan bone-mar-row appeal, a London organisation that keeps a list of more than 50,000 potential donors. He agreed to the procedure, and with his girlfriend, Jenny Quilter, were flown to New Orlans by the Lions Club of Kenner, a New Orleans suburb. “If the graft takes, that’s a success,” Dr Gumbart said.

“If Crystal is discharged from the hospital, that is a success. If Crystal lives five years free of leukemia, that is a success. If she lives 10 years free from leukemia, that is a success.”