Milestone In Quest For Med Miracle

Girl, 8, Finds Marrow Donor In China To Fight Deadly Disease

(CBS) 
Dr. David Margolis managed to keep Kailee alive with various treatments, all the while hoping for a transplant.

Earlier this week, Margolis said: "Today is definitely the day we've been looking for for three years. Absolutely. Because nothing afterwards can happen if we don't have the cells. And this time, we have the cells from as well matched a donor as anybody could have."

On the day of the transplant, Kailee underwent radiation treatment. Her immune system had to be destroyed so it won't attack the foreign blood cells her body was about to receive.

"She was a little frightened as they were getting ready for the procedure," Owen says, "but she was a brave little girl, and she stood up to the test and she did it."

The donation, frozen in liquid nitrogen, was carefully thawed and prepared.

The procedure itself, a simple blood infusion, was a success.

But, Storm points out, there are still many obstacles to overcome.

"Based on the best data that I can put together," Margolis says, "I think that Kailee has a 50 to 70 percent chance of meaningful quality of life, long-term survival."

The first question, Storm says, is: Will Kailee's body accept the donation? If so, will the cells begin to grow? It will be weeks, likely even months before the answers are known but, for now, there is hope.

"If I look at the future, it's too scary," Linda concedes. "If Owen looks at the future, he sees that she'll get better. … So, we both learned to deal with that by living for today; that today, she is going to have a good day; that today, we are going to enjoy our time with her."

In honor of the Wells family, The Early Show organized a marrow donor registration drive in the show's plaza at Manhattan's General Motors building.

The New York Blood Center and the National Marrow Donor Program helped put the drive together.

The National Marrow Donor Program's Patrick Thompson told Storm registering to become a marrow donor is easy.

"It's filling out a consent form and giving us a small sample of your blood," Thompson says. "The more people who join the registry, the greater the chance is of people who haven't found a match to find a match. The blood is put into our system and matched up with people who need a transplant."