A young girl who has been fighting her second diagnosis of leukaemia along with a rare condition is set to celebrate a milestone birthday after a life-saving transplant.
Anna Dagless, from Thorpe Marriott, said she feared several times her daughter, Imogen Roe, 10, would not reach her one-year transplant birthday this month.
Imogen was diagnosed with aggressive leukaemia at the age of six and underwent two-and-half years of high dosage chemotherapy.
But six months after completing treatment, her family received the heartbreaking news that Imogen had relapsed and the leukaemia had come back.
Doctors revealed that, in addition to further chemotherapy, Imogen’s best chance of beating the disease was to have a blood stem cell transplant from a matching donor.
Last year, Imogen spent 100 days at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, including Christmas and New Year, undergoing life-saving bone marrow transplant after finding a match in America.
She returned home at the start of lockdown but, after falling ill, she was also diagnosed with thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA).
TMA is thrombosis or blood clots in small blood vessels which, if formed in an organ, cause organ-specific dysfunction.
Her mother, Anna Dagless, said: “It’s been a real rollercoaster ride of a year for us, without the added covid complication. Imogen has been shielding since last November, we haven’t had a visitor in our house since then. We came out of eight months of isolating in hospital, straight into lockdown.”
On November 29, Imogen will celebrate her one-year transplant birthday and her family have hailed her a Queen.
Miss Dagless said: “We are very excited to be celebrating Imogen’s ‘first birthday’. There were several times we didn’t think she would reach that milestone, so if ever there is a reason for cake, this is it.
“Immy will be sharing the cake with her identical twin and raising a glass to her genetic twin, who is coincidentally a girl the same age, living somewhere in America.
“Without her cord donation Immy wouldn’t be here today, we are just so disappointed we can’t say a personal thank you giving us our Immy back.”
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