Successful bone marrow transplant for Kauai baby battling leukemia
By Mika Miyashima
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KAUAI, Hawaii (KITV) — A Kauai family is hoping their baby girl can someday be cancer free following a successful bone marrow transplant on Tuesday.
Five-month-old Seeley Borges has been battling acute myeloid leukemia since she was 3-weeks-old.
She’s currently at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Even with more than 2,000 new donor registrations, Seeley has only been able to find a partial donor match, through her mother, Haley Borges.
“Yesterday I went under anesthesia, and had my marrow pulled,” explained Borges. “It took about four hours. Even though she’s so tiny, it’s so rich, the marrow, that it was quite a process to put me under. We came back and her transplant was very much like a blood transfusion.”
Borges said Seeley has two more days of chemotherapy.
“Then, it’ll take about six weeks before she’s technically cleared,” she said. “Like, the marrow has been accepted and they can check if the cancer is gone completely.”
Seeley’s parents are staying hopeful, and continue to encourage people to sign up as bone marrow donors. They hope Seeley’s journey can help spread the message of how hard it is for mixed races like Seeley, to find a match.
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