'Bubble boy' is finally back home

There's no trace of the faulty gene in Rhys's new immune system Watching the 'bubble boy' recover

A seven-year-old boy with a rare genetic illness has spent his first night at home in south Wales after a life-saving bone marrow transplant.

Rhys Harris from Newbridge was diagnosed with an incurable genetic disease called Nemo when aged three.

He lived in isolation in a sterile bubble with parents Kevin and Dawn banned from hugging or kissing him.

However, he and brother Morgan, five, are back home after Rhys' treatment at Newcastle General Hospital.

Doctors in Newcastle gave him a new immune system and said there was no trace of the faulty gene.

"Rhys has been very very fortunate to get where he is and I'm proud of him," Mr Harris said.

He described the experience as "scary" and said his son had come "too close to death".

"The worst thing was watching our son go through it and not being able to cuddle him. We couldn't have dreamt of this 12 months ago," he added.

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'Bubble boy' comes home

Nothing would have been possible without the worldwide search for a bone marrow donor for Rhys which ultimately found one match in the United States.

The disease, of which there have been only 40 diagnosed cases since 2001, crippled his immune system leading, in his case, to the contraction of an incurable form of TB.

Experts at Newcastle General Hospital, a centre of excellence in the field, gave Rhys only a less than one in three chance of survival.

Mario Abinun, consultant paediatric immunologist who oversaw Rhys's treatment, said: "He's done tremendously well, we think and hope his immune system will improve further with time and that he's not going to have major problems from an infection's point of view."

The family temporarily moved from south Wales to Newcastle, where their other son attended school there.

They had faced the prospect of losing their home.

Bone marrow registe

But Mr Harris used to work as an RAF personnel officer and, after hearing of their plight through a friend, the RAF Benevolent Fund stepped in to pay both their mortgage in south Wales and rent on their flat in Newcastle.

Before Rhys could undergo the transplant, doctors had to kill his own marrow using chemotherapy.

The successful transplant was followed by two months of sterile isolation as Rhys recovered and his new immune system began to establish itself.

Back home after an eight-hour journey from Newcastle, Rhys' mother Dawn said it had been a "long gruelling journey" but the treatment had hopefully given her son a "long and happy future".

Mr Harris said years of fund-raising to help Rhys has now given him a taste to do more.

"I've quite a burning passion for this now. I really want to help people get on the bone marrow register. It's a life-changing thing, " he said.