Cook Children's Health Care System Celebrates 1,000th Bone Marrow Transplant

• Bone Marrow Transplant Expertise To Be Promoted to UAE and Kuwait Children Through International Services Program Outreach

Dubai, UAE, November 14, 2016:  Cook Children’s Health Care System, a not-for-profit pediatric health care organization based in Fort Worth, Texas, recently achieved a milestone in bone marrow transplant (BMT) by successfully concluding its 1000th transplant.    

Cook Children’s Medical Center, Pediatric International Program located in Fort Worth, Texas, home of the Jane and John Justin Neurosciences Center

Says Dr. Gretchen Eames, Medical Director of Cook Children’s Hematology and Oncology Center: “We have come a long way since our first pediatric BMT performed by Dr. Paul Bowman in 1986. Seventy percent of patients that require a bone marrow transplant are unable to find a match in their family. In that case, we look through national and international donor registries to find a match. Our very first unrelated donor transplant was performed in 1993 as it allowed us to treat more kids without requiring any transfer. Nowadays, nearly 50 percent of our transplants are from unrelated donors.” Through the program’s affiliation with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), Cook Children’s has access to donor registries from all over the world. These registries can find donors for bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cell and umbilical cord blood transplants.

Cook Children’s Health Care System embraces an inspiring promise - to improve the health of every child, through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury. In recent times the circle of influence of this promise has been proactively expanded to international patients, among which the children of the Middle East, have been of special focus. 

Says Executive Director International Patient Services Cynthia Gonzalez, at Cook Children’s Health Care System: “Achieving the 1000th BMT is testament to the exceptional expertise, skill and care provided by Cook Children’s Health Care System medical professionals, and we are excited to proactively outreach to the medical and resident communities in the UAE and Kuwait to fulfill our promise to improve the health of every child.”

BMT’s are offered to international patients through Cook Children’s International Services Program. As part of its continued outreach to the Middle East, Cook Children’s Health Care System has launched an Arabic language website to provide families and medical professionals with further information regarding its expertise, medical acumen and family-centered care services. The website also provides opportunities for medical professionals to conveniently make inquiries and referrals. 

Our bone marrow is responsible for making the blood cells that is required by our body. If a child’s bone marrow factory is not working right because of cancer, a blood disorder or other kind of damage, a stem cell transplant will replace the “old” marrow with a “new marrow” to ensure that blood cells are adequately produced.

Cook Children's Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant program has performed nearly 1,000 transplants in children with cancer, blood disorders or inherited conditions making it one of the more diverse and experienced pediatric transplant programs in the United States. Over the last three years, 30 to 40 transplants were performed every year for a variety of diseases, with leukemia being the most common primary diagnosis.

For more information about BMT procedures and the International Patient Programs at Cook Children’s Health Care System in English or Arabic visit: cookchildrensinternational.org.