Born to save her brother

Photo: elmundo.es

SEVILLA (Agencies) Little Estrella (Star - lovely name) was born so the doctors could use the blood from her umbilical chord to save her brother Antonio's life, 6, who needed a bone marrow transplant. Estrella, born  on February 11, was genetically selected to be totally compatible with her brother. After the operation carried out at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville, brother and sister are back home, where Antonio can no0w lead a perfectly normal life after recovering from bone marrow aplasia, an otherwise incurable disease that prevents healthy cells from being produced. The Virgen del Rocío Hospital is one of very few centres that can perform the kind of genetic selection procedure necessary for these types of hereditary diseases.