Oscar’s cancer-free!
Five-year-old who inspired queues of stem cell donors is healthy at last
WHEN an appeal went out for potential stem cell donors for Oscar Saxelby-Lee, thousands queued in the rain to see if they were a match.
And when the five-year- old’s rare form of leukaemia returned despite the resulting transplant succeeding, hundreds more dug deep to send him to Singapore for pioneering treatment.
Yesterday their generosity in what became the fastest online crowdfunding campaign ever – reaching a £500,000 target in just three weeks – was rewarded.
Oscar’s family have announced that he is now ‘MRD [minimal residual disease] negative’, meaning there is no sign of the disease following the revolutionary ther
‘One step closer to the childhood he deserves’
apy. He now faces a second bone marrow transplant from his father Jamie, 27, a builder, after his own stopped working because of the treatment.
But in an emotional post on Facebook yesterday, Mr Lee and his partner Olivia Saxelby, 23, told of their delight at their brave son’s progress.
They wrote: ‘OUR GREATEST NEWS. From “his disease is too aggressive” and starting palliative care to “MRD negative”! NO DISEASE DETECTED! We know it’s early days and anything can happen, but for now we are celebrating the news that we never thought we would hear.’
Oscar was diagnosed with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare and aggressive type of blood cancer, in December 2018.
He was later given just three months to find a stem cell donor after his condition worsened.
Some 10,000 people queued at drop-in sessions in Worcester last March, including 5,000 at Oscar’s school, to try to help and three potential matches were found. In May, Oscar’s family said the transplant, in which his unhealthy blood cells were replaced with stem cells from the blood or bone marrow of the donor, had been successful.
But the return of the disease in September left them pinning their hopes on CAR-T therapy in Singapore. The treatment involves removing and genetically modifying a patient’s immune cells, known as T cells, and multiplying them in the lab. They are then put back in the patient’s blood to find and kill the cancer cells.
Miss Saxelby, who quit as a teaching assistant to care for Oscar, said yesterday: ‘This is what we’ve needed after so many blows. We knew we had to hold on to hope but we’ve been so used to the heartbreaking news that we weren’t expecting a straight off negative MRD result. I’m beyond proud of him, he never gives up.
‘This is a miracle. It’s a revolution! One more treatment and we can bring our baby home where he belongs. He’s ecstatic to be that step closer to better health and the childhood he so deserves.
‘We are emotional, tired and overwhelmed but so, so thankful.’ Oscar, who was initially treated at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, is expected to remain in Singapore for six months.
His fundraising campaign total had yesterday reached £668,000. His parents have vowed to donate any surplus cash to the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust, which has supported the family.