A BRAVE teenager who twice gave transplants to his younger brother as he battled cancer has had a new centre for young cancer patients named after him.

The CLIC Sargent Home From Home at the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People on the site of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh will be called Ciaran’s House, in recognition of kind-hearted North Berwick teenager Ciaran McSherry.

His younger brother Reon, then 11, was diagnosed with leukaemia on April 17, 2016, and needed a bone marrow transplant.  Both Ciaran and his sister Eilidh were tested and Ciaran, now 16, proved to be a perfect match.

So a bone marrow transplant took place in Glasgow that October. 

Mum Aileen told the Courier: “Reon was doing well, he was getting stronger and then on the first anniversary of the transplant we found out that he had relapsed. That was devastating to us.”

Reon, now 13, required a second stem cell transplant, which saw his older brother go through five days of injections before a procedure to extract seven-and-a-half million cells followed.

That took place at University College Hospital in London 12 months after the initial procedure, and now Reon is continuing his recovery from the family’s home at North Berwick’s Rhodes Park.

And Ciaran’s efforts have been rewarded with the naming of the new facility in the Capital, following a public vote.

Aileen said: “It is fantastic – we’re all very proud of Ciaran and it’s great that his name has been chosen.  “We are a very private family so outside of our immediate family we’ve not gone out and talked about this.

“We sent round a WhatsApp message [to family and friends] when the online voting started and we had a lot of responses from people.

“North Berwick is a small community so we know people in the town are supporting him.”

East Lothian Courier:

The mum-of-three praised the work of the charity during Reon’s treatment, with Homes from Home in Glasgow and London allowing Aileen and husband Charlie to stay nearby.

Aileen added: “We want people to know just how much CLIC Sargent does to support families and how they need funds for their work.

“We have been supported by the CLIC Sargent staff working in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London, who have all been fantastic and have helped to take away our worries.

“Sometimes one of us stayed in the CLIC Villa and one of us was at home to look after the other kids – it has made a massive difference.

“Even from the initial diagnosis, someone from CLIC Sargent came over to speak to us and showed us round the CLIC Villa and I was thinking ‘this is not going to be for us, we’ll be at home’.

“I had no idea how big a part it would play.”

Ciaran’s House is due to open in the autumn and is set to replace the existing CLIC Villa on the Capital’s Hatton Place.

It will have nine en-suite family bedrooms, communal kitchens, a laundry area and social areas.

Kate Lee, CLIC Sargent chief executive, added: “It’s heartwarming to hear just how much of a boost our support has given the winning family – and how much it means to them to have our new home named ‘Ciaran’s House’.

“Our Homes from Home provide a vital space for families when cancer strikes young lives.

“A cancer diagnosis means normal life stops for the child or young person, and their family.”

East Lothian-based Paddy Crerar, CEO of Crerar Hotel Group, partners in the project, said: “The Crerar Trust is thrilled to support CLIC Sargent and would to offer our congratulations to the winning family and all of those who took part.

“It’s a wonderful tribute to Ciaran.”