Cancer battler Adeline Davidson, aged four, is on the road to recovery after her much-delayed bone marrow transplant finally went ahead.
Parents Steph, 27, and Jordan, 28, endured a rollercoaster two years as ops involving three possible donors had to be cancelled because of medical complications.
But the lifesaving procedure went ahead earlier this month at to Glasgow Royal Children’s Hospital.
The marrow was administered through transfusion, and the whole life-saving procedure took just over 20 minutes to complete.
Adeline, from Alness in Easter Ross, suffered a series of setbacks in her two-year wait for the transplant to treat a rare form of blood cancer.
She’s had more than 85 blood transfusions, one anaphylactic shock and emergency helicopter and ambulance transfers to hospital.
Doctors say initial test results are encouraging.
They’re closely monitoring her neutrophils, a type of white blood cell. An increase would indicate the transplant has been a success.
Until her condition stabilises, Adeline will have to remain in isolation with her mum.
An optimistic dad Jordan said yesterday that blood tests confirmed the presence of neutrophils.
She said: “There’s the first sign that it’s working and we are over the moon.
“Yesterday afternoon we got the news that there were neutrophils and today that still stuck.
“We have to wait until they’re at a point where we can come out of isolation.
“And even as it goes up, we still have a long way to go.
“We have to make sure through tests that the DNA is the donor’s and not Adeline.”
Even after undergoing the transplant and chemotherapy, Adeline is bouncing back.
Steph added: “It’s quite hard explaining to a four-year-old what’s going on and she thought losing her hair made her a boy.
“But we keep telling her her hair will grow back like Rapunzel and she’s already getting little bits of it back.”
She also joked that she will be needing to hire a removal van at the end of their stay in the central belt, after receiving gifts from family, friends, and social media users following Adeline’s story – which included a brand new Rapunzel wig.
“We appreciate the support and we’re very grateful for everything,” she said.
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