Doctors at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Centre (FHCRC) in Seattle, USA, have cured an Australian man's rare type of leukemia with stem cells grown in the laboratory from an umbilical cord donated to the cord blood bank.

In April 2007, 41 year old Graham Barnell was diagnosed with a deadly type of leukemia that affects less than 6 adults a year in Australia and his only chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant. After searching the worldwide registries for 9 months, the Australian Red Cross was unable to find a suitable donor and in February 2008, his Doctors told him he only had weeks to live without a transplant. Dr Sharon Avery, his Hematologist at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia said "Without a transplant Graham's prognosis is dire".

Undeterred by the Australian Government's refusal to fund treatment in the US, Graham's friends and family raised the necessary US$419,000 deposit to start the clinical trial at the FHCRC. Graham and his wife Samantha travelled to Seattle in April 2008 and on the 7th August 2008; Graham became the 8th person in the world to receive this pioneering and life-saving transplant.

The transplant was a complete success and he is now leukemia free.

From：http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com/newsroom/news_view.phtml?news_id=2717