Leukemia Patient, 5, Goes Home After Umbilical Cell Transplant

Five-year-old leukemia patient Christy Schwartz went home from a hospital Thursday, about a month after getting a transplant of umbilical cord cells from her little sister, Angelina, who was conceived in the hope of saving Christy’s life.

Christy wore a surgical mask to prevent exposure to germs as she left Rainbow Babies’ and Children’s Hospital. She was wheeled out of the hospital elevator by her father, Dr. Randy Schwartz. Her mother, Jill, walked alongside.

Doctors remain cautious about whether Christy has been cured, saying it will be years before they know for sure.

Christy’s leukemia was diagnosed when she was 11 months old. Angelina, the Schwartz family’s fourth child, was born in November. The couple decided to conceive a child after learning that no family member’s bone marrow matched Christy’s and that no donor in the National Bone Marrow Registry was suitable.

There was only a 1-in-4 chance that Angelina’s marrow would match Christy’s, but it did.

On April 6, Christy received stem cells extracted from Angelina’s umbilical cord. Stem cells are a component of bone marrow that create new blood cells. The cells had been frozen after Angelina’s birth because Christy was not yet healthy enough for the transplant.

The couple got the idea after Jill Schwartz read about the Ayala family of California, whose teen-age daughter, Anissa, had leukemia.

In 1991, Anissa received bone marrow from her baby sister, Marissa, who was conceived to provide a match. That transplant was successful.