Sickle cell anemia treatment helps Montreal girl

Two girls in Montreal are the first in Canada to undergo a potentially risky transplant to treat sickle cell disease.

The procedure has been performed before in the U.S. and Europe but never in Canada, according to doctors.

Priscille Sanon, 12, has sickle cell disease. Her red blood cells are mutated so they don't carry enough oxygen through the body.

The genetic disorder seldom affects non-blacks.

"These patients can actually live into their 50s and 60s but unfortunately some of them have very severe manifestations of the disease and may die well before that, in their teens or 20s," said Dr. Martin Champagne, a hematologist at Sainte-Justine Hospital.

A bone marrow transplant was her only hope for a cure. Priscille's younger sister, Mical, was a suitable donor.

Mical knew there was a chance her sister wouldn't make it to her next birthday without the transplant.

Their father says they couldn't refuse the possibility of a cure. He and his wife had already lost a son to the disease.

Bone marrow transplants are a common procedure in Canada but they have never been offered to sickle cell patients until now.

Last month, after a week of ultra high dose chemotherapy to destroy her own bone marrow, Priscille had the transplant.

On Oct. 29, the Sanon family celebrated Priscille's 12th birthday and the successfull transplant.

"We still have to wait a few more weeks to make sure she doesn't reject the bone marrow," said Marie-France Vachon, a bone marrow transplant nurse at Sainte-Justine. "But we can almost say she's cured, yes."

The transplant team plans to offer bone marrow transplants to more children with sickle cell disease.