Huge apologies about the radio silence with regards to Jaspar and his stem cell treatment.
Since May, when the German X cell centre closed rather unexpectedly the weekend before Jaspar’s scheduled treatment, we have undertaken a massive review of all available stem cell treatment centres around the world.
In the midst of all this research, we found out that we were pregnant (at least Filipa was!).
This opened up a whole new possibility, that being the option to retain the umbilical cord blood of our new baby, making them available to provide stem cells for Jaspar’s treatment in the future.
Jaspar and Ava now have a new brother called Ted who arrived on October 2nd of this year. Ted came a little early but is a healthy little chap with a loud cry and a ferocious appetite for milk. We collected Ted’s cord blood and hope to use it in the future for a stem cell treatment for Jaspar. It is being stored by a specialist company who stores the stem cells, and will make them available to the treatment centre.
Our review of potential clinics focused on the age range of their patients, their success rates, their preferred methods of operation, the quantity of treatments they have done, and talking to parents of children who have had the treatment. Tim did some very impressive spreadsheets and crunched the data till it squeaked.
We have finally selected the treatment for Jaspar’s stem cell treatments.
My Mom and I are taking Jaspar to California in January of 2012 to a clinic run by stem cell expert Dr. Steenblock. My wonderful sister has helped us to get 3 premium economy flights on Virgin for the price of 2 economy flights – she is simply the best negotiator!
Jaspar will be having 2 procedures while in the States.
He will have 2 bone marrow extractions and 2 re-introductions of bone marrow.
He will also receive a vial of stem cells.
We are hopeful, excited and worried – in that order.
Tim continues to be a tower of strength and puts up with panicked calls and emails from us as we work towards a treatment for Jaspar. He had no idea what he was signing up for when he agreed to be part of the Jaspar ‘Godfather’ team. He is also running the infamous Hell’s 100 (North Face 100) in Australia next year to raise additional funds for Jaspar. Sad? Sick? Inspired?
Nick has given up all exercise after his heroic run in the Cape Town UltraMarathon last year and is resting on his laurels.
Max is inspired and is training calmly and carefully for the 2 oceans Ultra next year.
We are hoping to add another £10K to the splendid amount already raised as this will allow us to give Jaspar 3 treatments in total.
All that remains is for me to say the biggest and most heart-felt thank you to each and every one of you for your kind support for our little man.
Jaspar continues to be a daily shining star and he inspires Filipa and I to be better people in each and every moment.
