St. Jude patient Harry with his doctor at St. Jude
Harry's story
Aside from some unexplained fevers, Harry seemed to be a very healthy little boy until he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, at 2 years old.
Harry was referred to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for stem cell transplantation following chemotherapy closer to home.
A stem cell transplant takes healthy blood-forming cells from a donor and gives them to a patient.
If the transplant works correctly, the blood-forming cells from the donor replace the patient’s bone marrow and start making healthy blood cells.
Harry’s dad, also named Harry, became his primary caregiver while his mom stayed behind with Harry’s siblings.
At St. Jude, this father-son pair, Big Harry and Little Harry, became known as The Harrys.
St. Jude patient Harry with his dad
St. Jude patient Harry
Little Harry underwent an unrelated-donor stem cell transplant in April 2023.
However, 100 days after transplant, it was learned that the cancer had returned.
Following chemotherapy, he had a second transplant, this time a haploidentical transplant with his mom as his donor.
Where is Harry now?
Little Harry’s cancer is in remission, but he returns to St. Jude regularly for an innovative treatment to combat graft-versus-host disease, which can occur following transplant.
He is “very vibrant, full of energy, full of life,” said his dad, and his St. Jude nurses have become “like his second moms.”
He is famous among his care team for his big hugs.
St. Jude patient Harry walks the St. Jude halls with his doctor
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