A YOUNG boy with a rare form of anaemia is beginning intensive therapy to beat the side effects of the blood transfusions he must undergo every five weeks.

The parents of 19-month-old William Rhodes will now be trained to use a system which will deliver a drug directly in to the youngster’s body over a period of 12 hours.

William suffers from diamond blackfan anaemia, a condition so rare it affects only about 120 people in the UK and 700 worldwide.

William’s mum Caroline, 32, of Acomb, explained how the treatment would work. “When you produce your own red blood cells they also produce their own iron,” she said. “With somebody like William, who doesn’t produce his own red blood cells, he is getting an extra dose of iron with each transfusion.

“It builds up and builds up and if we left it it would get very serious. This therapy will keep it under control.”

The treatment will run alongside William’s future transfusions and will be administered automatically 12 hours a day.

“We will be trained how to do it ourselves at home,” said Caroline. “We will have to insert a needle into his tummy which is attached to a pump which will deliver the treatment into his body over 12 hours and reduce the amount of iron in his body.”

Caroline said a treatment tried by doctors, involving steroids, had proved unsuccessful.

Despite his illness, William keeps on smiling, as our picture shows. “Considering what he goes through and what he has been through since he was born he’s a really happy little boy,” said his mum. “He’s not different from any other child really.”

Mrs Rhodes thanked all registered blood donors whose contributions she described as “extremely important”.

She said: “Looking at William – he wouldn’t be with us if people didn’t give blood – and we are just so thankful.”

She also thanked everyone who had contributed to two fundraising events, at York Racecourse and Holgate Working Men’ Club, which raised more than £6,500 between them for research into diamond blackfan anaemia.