‘Go-ahead’: Last hope for lifesaving transplant as stem cells ruled viable

A sick Queensland six-year-old has received an 11th-hour shot at life after donor bone marrow left on a US tarmac was ruled viable for use.

The cells bound for a critically ill Queensland six-year-old have been deemed viable after being left on an airport tarmac in the US.

The Courier-Mail reported on Thursday that a lifesaving bone marrow transplant had been left off a flight bound for Australia, leaving Mateoh Eggleton’s mother Shalyn devastated and begging for answers.

After a mercy dash to fly the cells to Brisbane, Ms Eggleton was happy to announce her son’s final hope was viable and ready to go.

“The cells have arrived in Brisbane, they have been tested and are viable,” Ms Eggleton said on Friday.

“Transplant is a go-ahead, to say I’m relieved is an understatement.”

Mateoh’s conditioning will start on March 3, with his bone marrow transplant to take place on March 13.

The heartwarming update comes after a funding injection was approved by Australia’s health ministers in a bid to bolster the number of bone marrow donors in the country.

But a long-term solution to ensure the lives of Australians in need of lifesaving stem cells that produce blood are not dependent on overseas donors has not yet been cemented.

Australia’s donor pool does not meet the needs, with eight out of 10 transplant recipients relying on overseas donors.

Federal, state and territory health minsters, gathered in Brisbane on Friday for a regular meeting, confirmed they had approved the immediate release of a $1m in funds to increase bone marrow donation recruitment through blood tests and cheek swabs.

Proposals for scaling up bone marrow donation recruitment nationally were “currently being considered”.

Six-year-old Mateoh Eggleton has fresh hope of a lifesaving transplant. Picture: Nigel Hallett

The health ministers also gave “provisional approval” for more funds to be released with details to be finalised “following clinical advice” expected in April 2023.

The lacklustre efforts by authorities to bolster Australia’s bone marrow donor register over years has come into sharp focus in Queensland in recent times amid heavy campaigning by Brisbane man Liam O’Brien.

Mr O’Brien, who is from a prominent Queensland family and is the nephew of federal MP Bob Katter, will need a stem cell transplant or risk dying in the next two to five years due to leukaemia.

“The only cure is a stem cell transplant,” he said,

“Anything else is just kicking the can down the road and buying a bit of time.”

For stem cell transplants to be successful, donor stem cells must ideally match all 10 characteristics of the transplant patient’s bone marrow makeup. This makes a perfect match rare but not impossible.

The Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry has been crying out for federal, state and territory governments to cut bureaucratic red tape which would allow them to undertake an aggressive recruitment drive.

A major issue is bone marrow donors are mainly recruited through the blood donation system, which the registry previously signalled is no longer enough.

It wants to send out cheek swabs via the post in a bid to add more people to the register.

The registry has maintained it has close to $13m in funds ready to be used to recruit the 125,000 donors aged between 18 and 35 that it needs for the register.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath’s office noted a series of ‘Strength to Give’ pilots were currently being reviewed to provide clinical advice on the preferred approach to increase donor recruitment.