Pittsburgh-area girl wins fight against rare gene mutation after 493 days in St. Louis hospital

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — When a little girl from McCandless needed a life-saving bone marrow transplant, hundreds of people mobilized to help find her a match. Now after more than a year and a half of treatment, Clementine is finally back home. 

KDKA-TV first told the story of Clementine in 2023. She was facing a bone marrow-type of cancer that most thought she was not going to survive. But after years of treatment and serious concern, little Clementine proved all the doubters wrong. 

A colorful yard sign and glorious graffiti on the family pickup truck announced to the world baby Clementine Blackham fought the good fight and won. 

"She is healed of TLR8 in her bone marrow," said Tanner Neely-Blackham, Clementine's mom.

A mutation in the TLR8 gene prevented the 2-year-old from producing her own blood. She needed a bone marrow transplant to survive and even that wasn't a guarantee. 

"Every day we'd wake up and we would give thanks that she woke up and then we'd spend the day fighting and we'd do it all over again the next day," Neely-Blackham said.

Four-hundred-ninety-three days later, the beautiful little warrior, with her big sister and guardian by her side, rang the bell at St. Louis Children's Hospital. The fight was over and Clementine was still standing. 

"She was the uncurable. We didn't think that that was possible, and her doctors cured the incurable," Neely-Blackham said. 

The Blackhams will tell you their baby survived due to the kindness of those who joined the battle to give the child a fighting chance. 

"There's no thank you that's big enough," said dad Tim Blackham.

"It wouldn't have happened if some random person from some random part of the earth [hadn't] swabbed their mouth and donated bone marrow," he said. 

The family will have to monitor Clementine's health from here on out but the doctors say that's to be expected. What the Blackham family can also expect is getting on with life and the wonders it presents. 

"She gets to go to school, she gets to grow up, she gets to graduate, she gets to get married. I get to give her away," said Tim Blackham. "Everything that was a what-if a couple of months ago is now a what now. We're just happy to be home."