Aloe Vera helps boy with blood disorder

Parents of blood disorder boy find new hope




«Reuben is doing well on supplements

Reuben Grainger-MeadREUBEN Grainger-Mead has a blood disorder so rare doctors haven't even got a name for it – the closest known condition is Diamond Blackfan anaemia, which itself only affects one in every seven million people. On the third anniversary of the founding of a charity set up to help children like Reuben, mother Michelle told the YEP about the nutritional supplements she hopes are the reason her son hasn't needed a blood transfusion in the last 18 months. The fact her six-year-old son hasn't had to undergo painful and debilitating blood transfusions for the past year-and-a-half is a blessing for the Gomersal family. Prior to the supplements, Reuben was having a transfusion each month – a process which left him physically and emotionally drained. Anaemia is when the body fails to produce enough red blood cells, which carry oxygen.Transfusions are painful and can take up to six hours and after being diagnosed with his condition at two, Reuben has had more than 30. It is Reuben's reaction to the nutritional supplements – which include aloe vera, magnesium and calcium – which has given his family hope that his condition can be controlled, if not beaten. Teacher Michelle, 36, who also has a four-year-old daughter, Poppy to husband Peter, who works at De
Puy International, Beeston, maintains a guarded optimism about the future. Michelle said Reuben was the first child in the country to try the supplements and added: "There are one or two cases where the child goes into spontaneous remission but this normally happens soon after diagnosis. The supplements seem to be working for Reuben.Dependent"We are now looking to find another child, whose family are in a similar position to us, where the child has exhausted all drug treatment and is totally transfusion dependent."They might be able to try these supplements as a last resort, as we did."If another child responded to this treatment, that would be extremely significant scientifically, compared to the odds of another spontaneous remission happening coincidentally." The Reuben & Friends charity was formed three years ago by a number of Reuben's neighbours and family friends and has raised over £58,000 to fund research into rare blood disorders. They paid for eight roll-away beds for the paediatric ward at Dewsbury Hospital, to allow parents to sleep near their children; and several bone marrow aspiration trolleys for St James' Hospital, Leeds.