A 4-year-old girl has been dubbed a hero after saving her baby brother’s life by donating her bone marrow and risking her own life in the process.
According to the family, Khloe Land, 4, was the only person they knew that could save the life of her 7-week-old baby brother, Colton, who was born with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency.
And so, the brave young girl donned the Superman dress as she took to the OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland to have her bone marrow extracted and transferred to her brother.
“He’s incredibly lucky to have had a matched sibling. We prefer matched sibling donors because we know the outcomes of transplant are really good,” Dr. Evan Shereck said in an interview with GMA.
As the family explained, Colton was just a week old when he was diagnosed with the “bubble boy disease” that results in a weakened immune system which makes the body more susceptible to deadly infections.
“My husband and I were hoping it was our older daughter [Krissy] because she understood and she wanted to be the one to help her little brother,” Colton’s mother, Kayla, said.
“When we found it was Khloe, she was really excited at first and then fear kicked in within about 30 seconds and she broke down and told us how scared she was.”
Nevertheless, she didn’t have any second doubts about it as she knew that the procedure would save her brother’s life. “She had such a hard time but she’s so brave,” Kayla added.
“Big sissy is having a hard time — she’s held in all the emotions and stress for a long time and today was the breaking point. She can’t wait for her sissy to be out and okay.”
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