Published 03:10 IST, November 16th 2019
Dog travels 4,000 miles from UK to save her pup's life through cell transplant
A dog travels 4,000 miles to save her pup's life through rare experimental cell transplants. Travels from the United Kingdom to the United States to donate cell
- World News
- 2 min read
Need some sunshine in your life? Then you need to know about the cocker spaniel mom travelling 4,000 miles to save one of her puppies. Mum Coco gave birth to baby Millie in the UK six years ago and after that, the pup moved to the United States to her forever home in California.
Heartbreaking News
Unfortunately, Millie was recently diagnosed with cancer and doctors have said that her only chance at survival is through an extremely rare stem cell transplant which is not even available in the United Kingdom. On top of that, the operation can only be performed in one hospital in the United States.
Mom to the rescue!!!
Coco along with her owner, 52-year-old Robert Alcock, travelled from their home in Darwen, Lancashire, to North Carolina on Wednesday, November 13, to reunite with Millie after their first parting six years ago. Millie's owners who are from San Francisco reportedly funded the entire trip and are also paying for the costly treatment which will no doubt go into the several thousand.
The rare procedure involves taking healthy blood stem cells from Coco's bone marrow and injecting them into Millie to replace her diseased ones.
When Chemo failed to show any improvement in Millie, Millie's owners decided to try the experimental treatment and started looking for donors that could be a possible match. Coco's owners were contacted and they sent over blood samples of her and one of her other pup, the doctors at the hospital decided that the mother would be a better match. Andrew and Serena, who emigrated to America for work, have been warned even if the operation is a success there is only a 50 per cent chance Millie will be cured. However, Coco's owners are hopeful that she will make a full recovery from the cell transplant operation before returning back home.
Updated 06:52 IST, November 16th 2019