By Declan O’Reilly

An eight-year-old girl from Launceston has been given a ‘last chance’ at life thanks to a groundbreaking leukaemia trial.

Sarah Marica was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia when she was just four.

However, thanks to a two-year trial treatment at Manchester NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), Sarah has been given a new chance at life using umbilical cord blood rich in stem cells — known for their amazing healing abilities.

Remarkably, Sarah has now been in remission for over a year thanks to the innovative treatment.

Sarah’s mother Simona Marica, 44, a staff nurse, said: “When I heard the doctor first diagnose Sarah with leukemia I started crying at the word.

“But even worse, we were told this was a rare, harder to treat leukemia.

“She had to start chemotherapy immediately as her blood results were so bad, she could have died at any time.”

In the years after the diagnosis, Sarah went through chemotherapy and had a stem cell transplant.

She went into remission twice, but the leukemia came back each time.

Simona said: “I knew that a second transplant would be the last.

“As a nurse, I knew that nothing more could be done if the leukaemia came back again because her body would not be able to tolerate any more chemotherapy, or further treatments.

“I knew this trial was her last chance of life.”

After these solutions failed, Sarah travelled to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH), part of MFT, to receive the innovative treatment.

Luckily, it has so far been successful and Sarah’s family, as well as the team at RMCH hope it has cured the disease.

Unfortunately, not all of the children involved in the trials survived.

Professor Rob Wynn, consultant paediatric hematologist and director of paediatric bone marrow transplant programme at RMCH said: “Sarah is one of five children from our trial who are alive and in remission as a result of this effective, experimental treatment.

“Without this clinical trial, it is unlikely that any of the children would still be alive.

“As a world leading transplant centre, we have the capability to carry out this specialist and transformative research for children across England and to share these remarkable results.”

Alongside the study, researchers have been conducting laboratory investigations, funded by The Little Princess Trust, one of the largest charity funders of childhood cancer research in the UK.

Phil Brace, chief executive of the trust, said: “The magnificent progress made by Professor Wynn and his team in Manchester, and the incredible bravery shown by Sarah and her family, inspire us all to continue focussing our efforts on funding science that will lead to kinder and more effective treatments for all childhood cancers.

“We are very grateful to our supporters who ensure we can fund clinical trials and I am so proud to see research funded by The Little Princess Trust bringing about such incredible results.”

Sarah and her family are now looking to the future, and this summer they are going on holiday in France with friends and experiencing normal family life.

Simona said: “I’m so glad Sarah has been part of the trial, Professor Wynn and the whole team made us feel like family, they looked after us so well and they are truly doing amazing things.

“Sarah has been through so much over the last few years, but she has been so brave. She has been my rock and she is such a cheerful, determined girl who loves school and playing with her friends.

“As a result of this research, Sarah is now fully enjoying life. She is my inspiration, and this treatment has given us all our lives back."