Gift of life is brought home to Tipton boy's family

The youngster is currently recovering at Birmingham Children's Hospital following his life-saving operation on December 19. But he has even managed to spend some time at his home in Tipton with his family, which they say has helped 'cheer him up'.

His father Sunny Bains, of Alexandra Road,today said: "Unexpectedly a few days ago, they said we were allowed to take him home for a few days.

"The doctors said it was good for us to take him home to help cheer him up and help with his morale.

"He was really happy being in his home environment. He just sat on the sofa but he was really happy with it."

The Express & Star told of his plight at Christmas. On Christmas Day, while most children were with their relatives, little Gaurav had to spend it behind a perspex screen separated from his family.

Doctors initially said he was only allowed to have one parent in with him at a time. They had to shower and change their clothes before going into his isolation room, and he could have no direct physical contact with his four-year-old sister Kiran.

But he has been doing so well in recent days that the rules have been relaxed and he's been able to cuddle both of his parents at the same time.

Gaurav was born prematurely and often suffered from ill health as a baby.

But early last year, after a series of chest infections, he was diagnosed with a rare blood condition called Monosomy 7, which makes him more likely to contract leukaemia.

Gaurav's parents were told that a bone marrow transplant would be his only chance of not developing leukemia.

Initially doctors hoped to find a donor in his family, pinning their hopes on his big sister Kiran. But after a series of tests it was discovered that the four-year-old was not a match. The discovery that none of his family would be able to donate motivated his parents to launch a campaign to find a donor with the help of the Anthony Nolan Trust.

They appealed for people to come forward to register with the national database of bone marrow donors. And after a torturous ordeal as the months counted down, a suitable donor was discovered just a few days before Christmas.

Mr Bains, aged 31, said: "After his treatment it was a case of waiting for the donor cells to start re-producing and they started at the beginning of January. We then had to wait for the test results for weeks to see if the majority were donor cells or his old leukaemia cells.

"When the results came back we were told that the majority of the cells re-producing are the donor cells – that was really good news."

He added that the most recent tests had shown that more than 90 per cent of the cells tested were now healthy – higher than the 80 per cent that doctors consider a good result following the treatment. "The first 100 days after the surgery are the most important.

He could still regress and decline, but he has something like 90 per cent donor cells," added Mr Bains. "He is heading in the right direction and everything is going well."

Gaurav is also receiving physiotherapy to help him walk again after his treatment left him very weak. The family is now hoping they will be able to bring him home for an overnight stay and that he will soon be able to leave the hospital all together.