A BARRY baby who needed a bone marrow transplant to fight a “one-in-a-million” medical disorder has had his donated stem cells – and is doing well.

Reign Miller-Hardy was diagnosed with haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and X-linked lymphoproliferative disorder (XLP1) on August 7 this year.

But on October 2 this year medics informed his family that a 9/10 match had been found and on in mid-November, the one-year-old underwent his transplant, following a week of chemotherapy, in the Great North Children’s Hospital, in Newcastle upon Tyne

His family had appealed for people to join the bone marrow register and his parents, Ashleigh Miller, 32, and Scott Hardy, 29, have been taking turns to visit him in hospital, due to covid-19 restrictions.

Reign had undergone intense chemotherapy to suppress the HLH XLP1 symptoms.

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Reign’s auntie, Lisa Evans said: “Reign had four sessions of stem cell transplantation that lasted over the duration of a week.

“The doctors managed to save some of Reign’s own T cells that were healthy to put back in along with the donor’s cells.

“He's overall responding brilliantly although having side effects of chemo and the transplant, but he's still smiling and staying strong.

“We will know in a few weeks how well he's responding to the transplant, but so far so good.

“Mum and dad are taking things day by day, but are remaining positive.

“Reign is still receiving blood and platelets transfusion when required and still remains in a "bubble" to reduce risk of infection due to no immune system at the moment.

“We are incredibly thankful to the donor and still urge people to sign up if they are eligible for stem cell and blood.”

She added: “I'm incredibly proud of Reign - he's so strong and still smiling.”

A simple mouth swab enables people to join the bone marrow register.

For details, log onto www.wbs.wales/forReign; DKMS (age 17 to 55) https://www.dkms.org.uk/en/register-now; and Anthony Nolan (age 16 to 30) on https://www.anthonynolan.org/8-ways-you-could-save-life/donate-your-stem-cells?utm_campaign=Appeal&utm_content=Register4Reign