5-Year-Old Girl's Stem Cells Help Put Twin Brother's Cancer In Remission

Sharing is caring, and no one knows that better than these young twins.

When 5-year-old Bradley Godish required a stem cell transplant to help eliminate his leukemia, his twin sister, Charlotte “Charlie,” was the first to step up to the plate as the donor, WGN-TV reported. With Bradley’s cancer now in remission, the duo is back in the swing of things, with a friendship even more special than before.

“They’re best friends,” Brian Godish, the twins’ dad, told WGN-TV. “Now the bond that they share is as strong as it can possibly be." 

Bradley was diagnosed in November with acute myeloid leukemia, and the best option for treatment was chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, People.com reported. The 5-year-old’s parents, Brian and Jennifer Godish, found out Charlie was a perfect match as a stem cell donor, and approached their daughter in January about the procedure. 

"We wanted Charlie to feel like she was part of the decision-making process and wanted to prep her mentally," Jennifer told People.com. "So we explained that Bradley's blood was sick and hers was healthy, and she said, 'Let's do it.'"

The surgery took place in February, at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, according to ABC News. Charlie bravely underwent the procedure, with little tears or complaints, and helped eradicate her brother’s sickness.

"They've both bounced back nicely -- our hope is that the further out we get from the transplant, the better the chances are that it will never come back and he'll have a full recovery," the twins' transplant coordinator, Dr. Jennifer Schneiderman, told People.com.

Though Bradley still requires routine checkups, he’s in recovery, and the twins have started kindergarten and are settling back into their daily schedules.

"We really hope as parents they learn from this -- to always be selfless to always help somebody out, to always give," Brian told ABC News. “This shows how valuable love and life is and I hope they never take life for granted."

 

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