Bone-marrow donation

A rare blood disease meant little Adriaan van den Berg was unlikely to survive past his 13th birthday. Then hisolder sister gave him the ultimate gift . . .
By Ilse Salzwedel

He'd always been pale and sometimes struggled with nosebleeds and bruises. His mom  thought an iron deficiency was to blame and made sure he took the necessary  supplements.

But in February 2008, when Adriaan van den Berg was eight, his mother Clarice was so  concerned about his bruises she consulted a doctor. After a series of tests and a bone- marrow biopsy the shocking diagnosis came: the little boy from Pretoria had Fanconi  anaemia.

Read the complete article in the Summer 2009/2010 issue of YOU Pulse. On shelves now.

Controlling a child's genes