A SIMPLE smile from a little girl meant the world to a family that had endured a gruelling wait to finally hear a bone marrow match had been found.
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Without the pairing, it might have been a very different story for Glenroy's Mia Yaldwyn, 1.
Mia began chemotherapy after she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia last May.
Her pop, Jeff Lang, said the family soon began looking for a bone marrow match.
“It's a worry to start with because you're waiting for them to come back with some news,” he said.
“There are so many kids who don't have a match like Mia did, it's something so simple and people don't realise the difference it makes until you go through it.
“It can be the difference between life and death.”
Mia's only match was found in America, however the stem cells from an Australian umbilical cord blood donation saved her.
This was the second time Mr Lang and his wife, Ronis, have experienced the heartbreak of a child being diagnosed with leukaemia.
The pair's son, Daniel, 10, died of the same condition.
“We are still a bit scared, we didn't have a good outcome with our son,” Mrs Lang said.
“If you don't have a match, there's no choice – there's nothing.
“If someone hadn't have done what they did, Mia wouldn't be here today.”
Mia went to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital two weeks ago for her bone marrow and lumbar puncture, receiving good results.
Tears welled up in the eyes of her nan, Deanna Ballins.
She said the cord blood donation meant a lot to the family.
While umbilical cord donations can only be made in certain metropolitan hospitals, all it takes is for people to fill out a form when they donate blood at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service to join the bone marrow donor registry.
“You can't describe what it's like to have her home, every precious smile and everytime you cuddle her,” Mrs Ballins said.
“They found three cord donors in Australia, and we had to wait for the third baby to be born, we don't know which one they used.
“I just want people to know they can save a life and it's a type of donation that no one needs to die for.
“There's been a lot of tears, but they are all happy ones now.”
Mia's dad, Kyle, would have been the back-up if no match was found.
“Without the donation, she would have used a less compatible match, which would have been me,” he said.
“I would have done that happily for her, but she might have rejected it and you never know what might have happened then.”
