Nine-year-old Rose-Leigh Usher could undergo a potentially life-saving stem cell transplant within four to six weeks.
|||Durban - Nine-year-old Rose-Leigh Usher, the Wentworth girl fighting a rare, aggressive cancer, could undergo a potentially life-saving stem cell transplant within four to six weeks, her doctor said yesterday.
Dr Yasmin Goga, the paediatric haematology consultant at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital who has been treating Rose-Leigh since she was diagnosed with hepatosplenic gamma-delta T-cell lymphoma last June, said confirmatory testing on the stem cell unit was being arranged.
The unit would be bought from a US cord stem cell bank, as there were no matching donors registered with the SA Bone Marrow Registry.
Pensioners, businesses, churches and schools were among those who helped to raise the R500 000 that was required for the purchase as well as the transplant, after Rose-Leigh’s plight was publicised in the media.
After the Daily News ran the story last month, the trust account set up for her overflowed, with a total of more than R600 000 raised.
The little girl has a generally incurable form of lymphoma, with the longest survival rate being 16 months after detection and most patients dying from the disease within six months to a year.
Rose-Leigh’s family and doctor hope the stem cell transplant will give her a new lease on life.
Goga said the stem cell unit should arrive in South Africa within the next two weeks, once the tests were completed.
By then, Rose-Leigh’s mother, Rosemary Ulbricht, would have had to make arrangements for the money to be paid from the trust account to the SA Bone Marrow Registry, which would in turn pay the US cord stem cell bank, she said.
Goga said the transplant would probably be done in the next four to six weeks.
“She (Rose-Leigh) will need a Hickmann line inserted in theatre, closer to the time of the transplant. This is essentially a very large intravenous line that will stay in for (a two-month period), and the stem cells as well as the blood products and antibiotics will be infused via this line over the two-month period,” she said.
The transplant will be done at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, where Rose-Leigh will first receive intensive chemotherapy over five days to destroy her own bone marrow. Then the stem cells will be infused.
“From this period onwards, she will be in strict isolation, as she is at great risk for infection,” Goga said. “She will also need blood and platelet transfusions during this period.”
Doctors would then wait for the new stem cells to settle in and grow and start producing new blood cells – a process called engraftment – which usually took about two months, if all went well, Goga explained.
Rose-Leigh would also be on numerous immune suppression drugs to prevent her body from rejecting the new cells, as these would be recognised as foreign bodies, she said, adding that she would also be put on drugs to prevent viral, bacterial and fungal infections.
“This period is critical, and she will be in strict isolation,” Goga said. “Once the engraftment occurs, usually at around two months, she will be moved out of isolation, and will continue with the immune-suppressive drugs for at least six months to a year.”
She said Rose-Leigh would need frequent blood tests and monitoring during this period as well.
mpume.madlala@inl.co.za
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