Milestone for Kiwi cord blood cancer survivor – 4 years in remission

Next month will see Aucklander, Frances Everall celebrating the fourth anniversary since her successful reinfusion with her cord blood stem cells, a very special milestone her family never thought she’d see.

In 2007, aged just four, Frances Everall was diagnosed with a Stage 4 Neuroblastoma (a cancer of the nervous system) and one of the options given by doctors at Starship was to take her home to die. If the cancer didn’t kill her the doctors said, the treatment possibly would.

Family member Kristina Anderson said there was no history of cancer and they were devastated when doctors at Starship said Frances wasn’t expected to survive the Stage 4 cancer they diagnosed.

But thanks to their decision to bank Frances’ cord blood at her birth, they were able to use these precious stem cells to rebuild her immune system after it was destroyed through the cancer treatment.

Today Frances is healthy little girl enjoying school and time with her family and friends.

“You never know what’s going to happen in your child’s future – having the cord blood stored saved her life.”

The family thinks of it as similar to taking out a fire insurance policy, “You don’t want your house to burn down but if it did you’d be pleased you had planned for it,” said Kristina. To view Frances’ story click here