Erik Haines

Erik's father writes: "Erik was the sixth person to receive a cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor in July of 1994. He was the first person to receive cord blood for a rare, inherited metabolic disease. In Erik's case, the disease was Globoid Cell Leukodystrophy, or Krabbes disease. Erik was diagnosed in early 1994 at the age of 2 during a "just in case" test shortly after his younger brother, Adam, was diagnosed with Krabbes.

"Adam was too symptomatic to be treated with a bone marrow transplant and he died shortly after turning 2. Erik was pre-symptomatic, but because Krabbes progresses so rapidly, it was felt he needed an immediate bone marrow transplant to have any hope of saving his life. Registry searches did not turn up an acceptable bone marrow match, leaking Erik with no good options and the clock ticking. A search of the NY Blood Center's cord blood bank found a cord blood unit with match characteristics similar to the bone marrow match. Doctors felt that while not a perfect match, the cord blood match would work for Erik because the potential for transplant-related complications was projected to be much less with cord blood than with bone marrow. The cord blood also had the advantage of being available as soon as the doctors could ready Erik for transplant.

"Erik breezed through his transplant without major problems and left the University of Minnesota Hospital in a then-record 26 days. Erik, now 14, is in high school and leads a normal life. As a result of Erik's success, cord blood transplants are now quite commonly used for children with inherited diseases.

"With no good marrow match available, an experimental cord blood transplant was Erik's only hope. Even then, his doctor, William Krivit, told us that the Erik we sent to transplant would not be the same Erik we would get back after the transplant. Erik surpassed all expectations and thanks to God and cord blood, today Erik is a normal teen-ager enjoying a "normal" life."