Nash transplant 'a complete success'

Molly Nash, the six-year old American girl who received a bone marrow transplant using cells from the umbilical cord of her newborn baby brother, Adam, is recovering well, and should be ready to leave hospital this week. Before the operation Molly, who has Fanconi's anaemia and cannot produce enough of her own blood cells, had been given just a year to live.

The case attracted worldwide media attention because doctors used IVF and genetic testing to ensure that Adam was not only free from the fatal inherited blood disorder, but also able to provide his ill sister with a matched blood cell transplant. Dr John Wagner, of the University of Minnesota, where the transplant was carried out, said that Molly was making white blood cells to fight bacteria for the first time in years.