Teen cancer patient ready for stem cell transplant

A 16-year-old leukaemia patient who was the subject of a drive to find a stem cell donor has arrived in hospital to prepare for a long-awaited transplant.

Leo, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, was originally due to be admitted last month after a match was found. But the operation was delayed after doctors said the donor needed to undergo further testing.

"The tests are done, they were cleared last week and we got the call to say we can go ahead," said Leo's mum Jenna.

The teenager needs to undergo several days of intensive chemotherapy at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital before his transplant next week.

"He will become quite poorly," explained Jenna. "He has a little bit of recovery time and then we've got a date booked in for 18th February for a transplant.

"He's going to be poorly for a couple of weeks, so I'll be there at his beck and call."

Leo's donor was found after an event in his home town, organised by his family and the blood cancer charity DKMS, saw more than 700 people join the stem cell register.

"The community has been amazing," said Jenna. "They're sending us good wishes on the Leo's Army Facebook page and I'm reading as many as I can and responding to as many as I can, but there's just so many.

"It's really overwhelming. We can't thank everybody enough."

Leo has acute myeloid leukaemia - an aggressive white blood cell cancer - but his mum said he had remained nothing but positive since his diagnosis last September.

"Nothing has fazed him," she said. "He hasn't cried once.

"If anything negative comes along, he just soldiers through and he goes, 'yeah, I can do it'.

"I really don't know where he gets it from, because I've been a mess. But he's just like, 'come on, mum, we're doing it'.

"He's the most amazing child I've ever known."

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