A DETERMINED couple have raised enough money for their first round of IVF which could help transform their son’s life.

Zoe and Craig Alderson have been fundraising since June last year to try to raise £50,000 which will cover the cost of three IVF cycles.

If the IVF is successful, the embryo will be tested for diamond blackfan anaemia – a rare genetic disorder experienced by their two-year-old son Henry.

The disorder means Henry’s bone marrow does not function properly and he has to have blood transfusions every three to four weeks.

He is also the only person in the world to have a faulty myelodysplasia gene too, making it more likely that he will develop a form of blood cancer.

Zoe and Craig have always wanted another child, but a bone marrow transplant from a sibling donor would change Henry’s life.

The couple have raised about £15,000 so far and have their first appointment at Guy’s Hospital in London on February 6.

Zoe said: “The first appointment will just be to discuss the plan and see if we want to move forward with the IVF. It’s been a long time coming but it feels like progress.”

The parents will need a special type of IVF called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis with pre-implantation tissue typing.

It means the couple will go through the usual steps of IVF with some added extras, so that each embryo will be screened for diamond blackfan anaemia and screened to determine a tissue type.

If the embryo does not have diamond blackfan anaemia and is a matching tissue type for Henry, it could be implanted in the hope of a pregnancy.

Zoe added: “After baby Alderson number two is born, the umbilical cord would be saved and frozen instead of thrown away, then the stem cells would be taken from the cord and used to give Henry his stem cell transplant.

“This is massively simplified as it’s a really complicated and lengthy process.

“It’s also very expensive, each cycle costs approximately £15,000.

“All of this means a special licence has to be granted and there’s only a handful of places in the UK that are able to obtain this, so all of our treatment will be in London.”

The couple are appealing for more help.

To sponsor Henry, visit, justgiving.com/crowdfunding/helpourhenry.