Katie's family 'holding our breath' – stem cell donor clinic Saturday

Cambridge Times

CAMBRIDGE The family of four-year-old Katie Herron is anxiously waiting to find out if chemotherapy was successful enough to put her into remission and give her a chance at the stem cell transplant that could save her life.

The Cambridge girl, who is facing cancer for the second time, is in Toronto Sick Kids hospital fighting for her life after normally successful treatments didnt beat her childhood leukemia. Herrons only hope is to receive a stem cell transplant, but she desperately needs to find a donor match first.

Its hoped that chances of finding a potential donor will increase thanks to a stem cell donor clinic scheduled for Saturday (Feb. 22). The clinic will run from 1 to 5 p.m. at Cambridge Sports Park, located at the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Can-Amera Parkway.

The Herron family is encouraging residents to come to the clinic and register as a donor with OneMatch, which co-ordinates the worldwide registry. Registering as a donor is a simple as a swab of the cheek.

However, even if a match is found, the four-year-olds fatigued body still needs to get healthy enough to have the procedure. Herron continues to undergo a battery of tests to see if she is well enough to accept a transplant. She has just completed another round of chemotherapy in hopes of putting her body into remission. Bone marrow tests are currently being reviewed.

We are, as you can imagine, holding our breath for the results and anxious on word of a match, said Herrons mother Anne Hodgkinson.

If her daughter is not given the go ahead for transplant, doctors will do one final round of chemotherapy.

Herron, meanwhile, is being treated for an infection she developed several weeks ago. She is feeling a little better, said Hodgkinson, and is finding the courage to smile and laugh a little again.

She is doing well enough for us to all stay together at the Ronald McDonald house here in Toronto, she said, going into the hospital during the day for tests and treatments.

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Katie's family 'holding our breath' - stem cell donor clinic Saturday