"Hello, in this picture I introduce you to my boy, who had recently received a bone marrow transplant, with the smile doctors...

It all started on July 4th 2010 when, after being vaccinated for some allergies, I saw he had three red spots next to the shot. We showed the doctor and he was very alarmed; they weren't spots but petechiae. We went straight to the hospital and stayed there for three days. The tests results were complicated so, on Sunday, we went very worried to Madrid (La Paz Hospital), my house for quite a long time, with the suspect of leukaemia.

I remember that day like the saddest of my life. I don't know how to explain what I felt. It's as if in that moment everything had shattered. Four days after being there, after a bone marrow puncture, the doctors told us that it wasn't leukaemia and that in his body there were no malignant cells. Phew, what a relief... although it didn't last long because not too long after they told us that it could be Bone Marrow Aplasia, a very serious illness.

After 15 days waiting for the biopsy they confirmed the illness. That day the blood transfusions began, platelets, etc. and the wait for a compatible donor to appear.

On August 2011 they told us that there was a 75% compatible umbilical cord for David, but due to his illness, they believed it would work. On August 29th we were admitted and on September 6th they transplanted him. It all went very well, the marrow was implanted twelve days later, but suddenly everything started to go wrong and the anxiety reappeared. My boy had no defences and he was in risk of getting some kind of infection and the problem was that there was no marrow.

I remember the day that they told me they would do a transplant with my cells. I don't know if I felt joy or sadness, because the risks were elevated, only a 50% chance that it would save him but there was no other option. During those days I found hope thinking that those 9 months in my belly had to be worth something more.

On October 26th (as my son says) we were transplanted and on November 9th they gave us the good news that the marrow was implanted. Everything started to go very well and it was all very quick. On November 23rd we were discharged. Although it was unlucky that he needed two transplants, we can say that we have been lucky because he has never had any infection. The only effect of the transplant was the loss of hair, and since November 23rd he hasn't had to be admitted.

Now we are preparing the first anniversary since the transplant celebration, and I hope it's a party where we can remember everything good that we have lived during these two years, which has been a lot.

Kisses from Ponferrada".

Luisa, David's mother