Mother Daughter Bone Marrow Transplant

Heartwarming and Lifesaving

A mother battling cancer and her daughter are telling their story to raise awareness about bone marrow transplants and the power of becoming a donor.

Kimt news three's calyn thompson joins us now with their story.xxx george and amy ?

"* i spoke with that mother who received a cancer diagnosis right in the middle of this pandemic.

Now, she's crediting mayo clinic and her daughter for saving her life.xxx you would never know cyndi nardiello was sick by looking at her.

The mother of two was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia back in march.

In may ?

"* she uprooted her life to gt treatment at mayo clinic.

Cyndi: i really didn't think i had a shot at life.

And they told me when i arrived at mayo this is not a death sentence // and they told me i can do this, i can beat this.

They've given me a lot of positive reinforcement the support from family and friends helped her fight.

Doctors treated cyndi with chemotherapy.

Once she was in remission, they thought a bone marrow transplant would be her next best chance.

Besides being considered a good candidate for a transplant, there's the task of finding a donor.

Dr. mark litzow (hematologist, mayo clinic): i think that we can find a donor now for almost everyone, especially having this option of using half?

"*matched family members.

There was no sibling option.

The national marrow donor program didn't have a good match for cyndi either.

That's where her daughter elyse comes in.

Cyndi: they told me it would be really difficult, that they have to go through this database.

And it just worked out to a miracle that elyse was so close to me so it seems like we have a pretty good chance and a good success rate being a match from a daughter.

Eylse: and i was like ask the doctors if i can be a match.

They were like just wait, we're going to look through the database of over 25 million people.

And the highest match was someone from germany with only 43?

"* percen.

I still beat him and i'm a better match than this random person.

I'm glad they could test me and it took about two months to officially find out and now we're doing it.

Doctors performed the transplant last week.

Doctor litzow says it will take a few weeks before elyse's healthy blood?

"*forming cells get to work in cyndi's system.

That's why they're monitoring cyndi closely through outpatient care.

Cyndi comes to the hospital every day to be seen.

She's learned a lot on her journey.

Cyndi: you really stop and wake up and appreciate every minute of your life/// the transplant happened last thursday at mayo clinic... so today is day 8 of recovery.

Elyse and cyndi tell me they're now a part of research studies... to help other people who will go through what they've gone through./// there's a go fund me page to help the family cover the costs of medical treatment.

We'll post a link to that on our website, kimt dot com.

We'll also post information about how to become a bone marrow donor.///