Yes, we actually did it...
Mum’s joy after donor campaign saves Evie
A LITTLE girl has finally had a life-saving transplant – after all hope was lost when a donor pulled out at the last moment.
Evie Hodgson, eight, has a rare blood disorder and was devastated last year when her only chance of a bone marrow match was dashed.
Mum Tina, 37, said: “Wow, yes, we actually did it. We got Evie to transplant which will hopefully give her the chance of a wonderful future.”
The new lifesaver was found thanks to a family campaign called Evie Needs a Hero, persuading people to join the stem cell register.
The schoolgirl has now had her bone marrow transplant at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle.
Evie was ecstatic the appeal was a success, saying before surgery: “Thank you so much to everyone. You’ve saved my life. I can’t wait to go out and ride my bike again and see my friends.”
The kindhearted youngster, right, even put others first during an anxious wait after being diagnosed with severe aplastic anaemia last May. She had her long hair cut to donate to the Little Princess Trust after making friends with poorly kids who suffered hair loss from treatments.
The Hodgsons, from Sleights, near Whitby, north Yorkshire, were crushed when Evie’s original donor – at the time the only match – pulled out in September for reasons unknown to the family. But Tina and husband Andy, 49, refused to lose hope of another. Tina added: “Evie has been in good spirits and feeling great, which is phenomenal. “The next step is engraftment, which means Evie has accepted the bone marrow and starts producing her own cells. “We have to wait three to four weeks so are not out of the woods yet.”