A young girl was given just days to live after suffering complications during a bone marrow transplant.
3-year-old Porsha Williams is a brave girl from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, who was hospitalized at Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital after she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia last year.
Though the child has been in remission since November 2021, her condition worsened in early 2022 after she suffered graft versus host disease following her bone marrow transplant.
Also known as GvHD, the disease occurs when transplanted cells from a bone marrow donor attack the recipient’s body after recognizing it as foreign.
While the disease can sometimes be treated, there is a risk of the condition causing major damage to the sufferer’s organs.
As Porsha’s doctors told the girl’s heartbroken parents, Chloe and Jamie, the disease already caused irreversible and fatal damage to their child’s lungs.
Just days before Christmas, the family was also informed that little Porsha had just days to live.
“It’s attacked her eyes, her gut, her bladder, her skin has gone up red and is peeling. I’ve phoned Great Ormond Street Hospital and asked them if they can help because Cardiff and Bristol have run out of options. I’ve got to prepare myself for it, no matter how hard it is,” Chloe told WalesOnline after the horrible prognosis.
“I’ve done everything I can for her, all I can do now is share her story of how she fought the biggest fight for 15 months. She’s a superhero and every person who has helped her along the way is a superhero too.”
The stunned mother added: “Honestly I’m gobsmacked. Heartbroken. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We just want people to realize how amazing she’s been – and how amazing it is that she’s still fighting.
“You can see she is very poorly now. She can speak, she’s just really tired. We are working as a team to get through it and taking each day as it comes.”
The devastated mom went on to brand her little girl as a bright and bubbly child who loved coloring, playing in the garden, and spending time with her father.
“She was the happiest little girl, the happiest thing you’d ever met. Since she came here she’s not been the same child – she doesn’t want to play,” Chloe expressed.
“We bought her a phone for Christmas to put a smile on her face and she doesn’t want to play with that. We couldn’t do anything really [on Christmas Day] – we just sat down and opened a few toys with her and her sister, and she was smiling. But it certainly wasn’t the Christmas we wanted or hoped for.”
Our thoughts are with Porsha and her family during this challenging time.
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