Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

It's transplant day for Sativa

Bay of Plenty Times
23 May, 2012 07:58 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article


Sheree Roose and Tim Eagle have been waiting for this day to arrive - and equally dreading it.

Because today their precious 20-month-old daughter Sativa gets another shot at life. But it is also her last shot. Sativa Eagle, who suffers from leukaemia, will receive a long-awaited bone marrow transplant.

"This is it - the big day we have been waiting for," said Miss Roose from Auckland's Starship Hospital.

"But it's pretty intense and scary for us, knowing it is our last option. If she doesn't get this, it's a death sentence for her. She will die of leukaemia."

Miss Roose and Mr Eagle were told in October last year that Sativa needed the transplant. However, the procedure was delayed after she became seriously ill.

"She has to have zero cancer cells in her body before the transplant," Miss Roose explained.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The bone marrow had been flown in from Germany and all that they knew about the donor was that he was a 22-year-old man. "He wanted to be anonymous but I can write a letter to thank him,' she said.

The New Zealand Bone Marrow Donor Registry used databases from New Zealand and around the world to find a bone marrow donor when a match could not be found in the family. Stem cells were collected in a similar way to a blood transfusion. A small amount of blood passed into a machine that separated and removed the stem cells. The rest of the blood was immediately returned to the donor. The stem cells were also given to the recipient intravenously. Following the transplant Sativa would have monthly lumbar punctures to check her progress and would receive chemotherapy until she was 3, after which she would begin radiation therapy, Mrs Roose said.

Sativa was diagnosed with leukaemia when she and her twin sister Indee were 4-months-old. Sativa had difficulty feeding, cried often and appeared to be in intense pain. It was hoped she would have the transplant earlier this year, but instead she spent three months at Starship Children's Hospital fighting for her life after a lumbar puncture revealed the cancer had worsened. On a ventilator for 20 days, her parents were told three times that she would not make it.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, on the eve of her transplant Sativa was in good spirits - despite falling off a chair and breaking her leg on Mother's Day, the day before she was due to be admitted to Starship. "She's still happily playing, smiling and laughing. She's amazing. Resilient as. She has no idea what her little body is going through," Miss Roose said.

She would have a minimum three-week stay in hospital, followed by three weeks at Ronald McDonald House, but Miss Roose said she knew of cases where recipients had been hospitalised for months.

"It depends on her body and how she recovers from it. They have said they are scared this is the part that could kill her, not the cancer itself."

When Sativa was first diagnosed with leukaemia, she was given a 40 per cent chance of being cured, but Mrs Roose said she no longer wanted to know the "odds".

"We're going on hope. She has beaten the odds so many times."

The family's hope for the future was to lead a normal life. "Tim will get a job and we will start living normally. I'll be a stay-at-home mum and plan our wedding."

A mother's prayer

One more sleep. Gosh this day we have been waiting seven months for is finally here. Feels so unreal. Please Lord, please rid my daughter of this horrible disease. Please let her live the rest of her life normally. I beg you to take this pain away from her. Amen. - Sheree Roose

Bone marrow transplants


  • Bone marrow is the tissue inside bones that produces blood stem cells.

  • Stem cells mature into red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

  • A small number of immature stem cells circulate in the blood stream.

  • Leukaemia and other serious blood disorders prevent the blood cells from maturing and functioning properly.

  • Only one in three patients has a family member with a matching tissue type.

  • You are more likely to match someone of the same ethnicity.

  • The New Zealand Bone Marrow Donor Registry uses databases from New Zealand and around the world to find a matched, unrelated bone marrow donor.

In New Zealand stem cells can be collected by:

- taking blood from which stem cells are removed

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

- taking bone marrow from the pelvic hip bone using a needle and syringe, under a general anaesthetic.

Stem cells infused into the recipient locate the bone marrow cavity, and if the transplant is successful, begin to grow and produce healthy white and red blood cells and platelets.

www.bonemarrow.org.nz

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Mixed verdicts delivered for Tribesmen accused of murdering one of their own

11 Jul 05:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Hardly surviving': Sales fall after dairy raid

11 Jul 03:29 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Substation fault cuts power to thousands in Tauranga

11 Jul 03:01 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Serious injuries': Crash closes highway

'Serious injuries': Crash closes highway

11 Jul 05:30 AM

Emergency services are responding to a two-vehicle crash on SH29 which has closed the road

Mixed verdicts delivered for Tribesmen accused of murdering one of their own

Mixed verdicts delivered for Tribesmen accused of murdering one of their own

11 Jul 05:00 AM
'Hardly surviving': Sales fall after dairy raid

'Hardly surviving': Sales fall after dairy raid

11 Jul 03:29 AM
Substation fault cuts power to thousands in Tauranga

Substation fault cuts power to thousands in Tauranga

11 Jul 03:01 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP