Baby Saves Mom

Patrizia Durante was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia when she was 26 months pregnant. Mild chemotherapy treatments did not arrest the disease and doctors finally indiced labor so that they could do stronger treatments without risking harm to the baby. While Victoria lay in an incubator her mother’s condition still did not improve. Searches for bone marrow donors had still not found a donor when doctors decided that Patrizia could not wait any longer.

Fortunately Victoria’s umbilical cord had been frozen at birth for Victoria’s possible use later. Doctors thought that the stem cells in it might be a close enough match for Patrizia; after all, half the genetic material was hers. So they transfused her with the blood from the umbilical cord.

And they were right. An umbilical cord is rich in homeopoietic stem cells, which can transform themselves to other kids of cells, and which are frequently of use in treating patients whose blood systems have been damaged by chemotherapy. In Patrizia’s case the stem cells stuck to her bone marrow and began to rebuild her blood system, according to the Montreal Gazette. Dr. Pierre Laneuville, Patrizia’s doctor, said, "So what is circulating in her veins now is actually her baby’s blood."

As an added bonus, immune system factors in the umbilical cord blood wiped out the last of her leukemia cells.

Says Patrizia, "I gave my daughter life, then she gave me mine back."   Victoria is 13 months old now and she and her mother are both healthy.

Another victory for adult stem cell research and therapy!  No embryos died, ever, to save these two lives!

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