Medical first is a life saver

Jul 8 2002 By The Evening Chronicle

Leukaemia sufferer Stephen Knox has been given a new lease of life after becoming the first person to benefit from a revolutionary procedure pioneered in the North East.

Mr Knox, 31, who had only been given months to live after other treatments failed, received a life-saving bone marrow transplant using blood from a baby's umbilical cord.

The procedure uses `stem cell' blood from discarded placentas and umbilical cords and has been used to treat children with serious blood disorders for years.

The procedure was developed by Prof Stephen Proctor, who is based at the Newcastle Hospital Trust's Haematology Unit and Newcastle University and discovered a way to `bulk up' the stem cells using cord blood which does not match.

Mr Knox said: "The last few months have been full of emotional highs and lows, now with the result of each blood test I feel more confident"