Celebrating Christmas at GOSH with Aditi and her family

Aditi, joined by her parents Divya and Uday, came back for a special evening visit with home-baked Plum cakes of Kerala.

Eight-year-old Aditi was diagnosed with an immune condition, Schimke’s immuno-osseous dysplasia, for which she received a bone marrow transplant, followed six months later by a kidney transplant, to treat severe irreversible kidney failure. Both bone marrow and kidney transplants were donated by Aditi’s mother, Divya.  The new kidney now works without needing drugs to stop Aditi’s body rejecting the organ as the bone marrow transplant reprogrammed her immune system to be the same as her donor kidney. Nine months after her kidney transplant, Aditi is now thriving and enjoying finishing her first year back at school full-time.

Multiple teams at Great Ormond Street and UCL GOS ICH worked together for many, many months to make Aditi's surgery possible, including the Bone Marrow Transplant, Paediatric Intensive Care, Immunology, Nephrology, Surgical, Anaesthesia and Renal Transplantation teams.

Aditi’s dad Uday shared that: “This is our first Christmas where Aditi is not an in-patient at the hospital, so it will be a very special celebration for us this year. We wanted to make sure that all the teams who worked with us over the past few years knew how much we appreciated their support and kindness, especially at this time of the year.”

Aditi and her family returned to Eagle (Renal), Robin (BMT and Immunology) and Seahorse (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit) to present the clinical teams with their Christmas treats.

Uday said that: “Plum cakes of Kerala are a festive favourite in India; a recipe that has been passed down from many generations. We made these plum cakes for the clinical teams last year also, and we hope to continue this tradition for many years to come”.

Charlotte Holt, Senior Play Specialist on Eagle Ward, where Aditi spent two-years on dialysis, said: “It is incredible to see Aditi doing so well after all she has been through. Aditi has always been so positive; full of smiles and giggles and we all miss her so much on the ward - so her surprise visit with her parents brought so much cheer to us on a Tuesday evening.”