PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — When a little girl from McCandless needed a life-saving bone marrow transplant, hundreds of people mobilized to help find her a match. Now after more than a year and a half of treatment, Clementine is finally back home.
KDKA-TV first told the story of Clementine in 2023. She was facing a bone marrow-type of cancer that most thought she was not going to survive. But after years of treatment and serious concern, little Clementine proved all the doubters wrong.
A colorful yard sign and glorious graffiti on the family pickup truck announced to the world baby Clementine Blackham fought the good fight and won.
“She is healed of TLR8 in her bone marrow,” said Tanner Neely-Blackham, Clementine’s mom.
A mutation in the TLR8 gene prevented the 2-year-old from producing her own blood. She needed a bone marrow transplant to survive and even that wasn’t a guarantee.
