"She gave me her blood"

Doctors diagnosed 4-year-old A.J. with a very aggressive form of leukemia that required a bone marrow transplant. No compatible donor could be found. Roxanne Salazar, A.J.’s mother, was seven months pregnant at the time, leading the little boy’s doctors to propose an alternative: a transplant of stem cells from the baby’s umbilical cord blood. Pre-natal tests indicated a match, and after Brianna’s birth in March 2000, physicians harvested the cord blood and injected it into A.J.’s veins.

“That was enough to fight the leukemia,” Roxanne says happily, “and he is still in remission.”

Today, A.J. is a healthy, energetic child who is very protective of his baby sister. He hugs her and says, “She gave me her blood.”

Roxanne and her husband Amado say they will never forget the medical miracle that saved her son. “If there had been a cord blood program, they might have had a match for him. What a blessing a cord blood bank would be for other parents of sick children.”