A woman from Arizona has managed to successfully battle cancer thanks to a cord blood transplant. Gina Murphy, from Wittmann Arizona, had been battling leukaemia for many months, enduring round after round of chemotherapy.

Doctors decided that enrolling Gina in a clinical trial testing the use of cord blood transplants to treat her form of leukaemia was Gina’s only choice. 

A few months later and Gina is back in the saddle, riding her horse around their property just outside of Wittmann. She describes the process of discovering that clinical trials were available: “The clinical trials there, it’s just amazing. It was pretty nerve-wracking not knowing what to expect”

Gina had to wait a few months before the procedure was due to occur.  It was a nerve-wracking time for her family, as Gina’s husband Kory says: “There were sometimes doubts would creep in.”

When the call came in and Gina was given a date for the transplant, she was overjoyed. The procedure consisted of a cord blood transplant to reset her immune system after chemotherapy had destroyed the cancerous cells in her body. Gina ended up receiving two transfusions of cord blood, which enabled her body to start producing healthy blood cells again.

Gina describes the help she received from doctors and nurses during her treatment, saying: “It was great help with friends and family and just a great support system, everybody’s been so good to us.”

The treatment effectively “reset” her immune system after the chemotherapy had destroyed it. Her body can now produce the blood cells that it needs to survive.

Source: Wittmann woman battles cancer with cord blood transplant

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