[MissTeeks]

Sorry to bump this old thread but this broke this afternoon:

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...ant-takes-root

“Mom, we did it.”
With those words, Jonathan Pitre hugged his mother, Tina Boileau, and shared his joy and relief at learning the news late Tuesday afternoon that his stem cell transplant has worked.
Blood tests revealed that all of the new white cells in his bloodstream are from his mother’s donated stem cells, and contain her two telltale X chromosomes. It means his mother’s donated stem cells have taken root in his bone marrow and have started to produce new blood cells.
“This is the best news ever, the best Mother’s Day gift,” said an elated Boileau, who has remained at her son’s side throughout his marathon treatment.

Pitre has been in Minnesota since mid-February to undergo his second attempt at the experimental treatment pioneered by doctors at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. His first transplant ended in disappointment on Thanksgiving Day last year, but the family opted to undergo a second transplant despite its risks and hardships.
This time, wonderfully, it worked.
“I just got official results: Jon is 100 per cent donor!” Boileau said in a text message late Tuesday afternoon.
Offered to children and adolescents with severe EB as part of a clinical trial, the stem cell transplant is physically demanding and comes with a host of life-threatening side effects. One of those potential side effects is graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), a complication in which the new white blood cells turn on the patient’s tissues and attack them as “foreign.”

A Grade 11 student from Russell, Pitre suffers from a rare form of EB that complicates how he moves, eats, bathes and sleeps. Many of those with severe EB die from an aggressive form of skin cancer in their 20s.
The stem cell transplant holds the potential to dramatically improve Pitre’s life and produce tougher skin that blisters less and heals more readily.