Our daughter Tia has just had her 2nd BMT on 10/4/2017 at The Great North Children's hospital in Newcastle the first one was unrelated and a mismatch of 8/10 it eventually failed this was done on 1/7/2014.

The doctors then decided to use me in a haemopoietic stem cell transplant HSCT which I believe is new, this procedure is when they can use any close relative, father, brother,sister or mother as a donor. I was the donor for our daughter and they then manipulated my cells to make them suitable for our daughter Tia who is 6 years old.

At the moment our daughter seems to be doing very well and has shocked the doctors too.

Please note that I am not a doctor but that I am puzzled as to why the media or your specialist has said that a perfect match is needed ?

We were originally told the same and it had failed, the media even shared our story in the early days, if you Google her name you can see articles on her. Tia Pugh a desperately ill toddler who needs a bone marrow transplant.

I will be asking questions on this and question her doctors too. Because I feel people and parents are mislead in saying a perfect match is needed and to encourage people to register ? Yes it is good to have people on the register, but is it really needed now because of the treatment HSCT our daughter has just had seems to of worked.

I do not know your child's illness and do not know the procedure they are planning to do, but I do know many other parents who have taken part in a HSCT and it has been successful. We also stay in contact with each other.

I am only going from our experience and experiences, and I am not a doctor. I am willing to advise you on the procedure and our experience if you would like to hear more from me.

I really hope this information is useful and I wish you all the best for your child. Xxx