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Emilie Meza, 1, gets bone marrow transplant from father who is only a half-match

Posted at 9:20 PM, Jun 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-16 21:20:18-04

Emilie Meza has finally gotten her bone marrow transplant.

The one-year-old's donor coming from right inside her home. After nearly 7,500 kits were collected in the name of Emilie, none of them were a match.

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Doctors decided their last effort would be to use her father's bone marrow, even though he is only a half-match.

Emilie received her transplant on June 15 and her family tells us the next 10 days will be crucial.

Doctors are going to monitor Emilie's body to make sure it doesn't reject the transplant.

Emilie's family tried desperately through more than a dozen drives with "Be The Match" hoping they could find a 100-percent match, but it just didn't happen.

"We have good days. We have bad days," her mom Roxie told ABC Action News. "It's very hard because sometimes there's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can do and Emilie is so little. She can't tell me what she's feeling. She can't tell me mom my bones hurt."

After more than 7,500 people signed up through "Be The Match" in the name of Emilie at several events, but not one was a match.

Emilie's family still wants people to continue to join the marrow registry as other lives have been saved all in the name of Emilie.  Her drives found matches for other people who were also in need.

To become a member of the "Be The Match" registry, please visit https://join.bethematch.org/fl.