February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
“Currently, he’s a day patient and in much better health,” said his father, Finbar Murphy. “He’s been weaned off all antibiotics at this stage. We’re very happy with the progress he’s made.”
The 7-year-old came to the city in early March for the transplant at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, but an infection in his mouth threatened his life and he became dependant on daily blood transfusions. At the time, his family made an appeal for O negative and A negative blood. Finbar Murphy has asked that people continue to register at the Web site www.oscarmurphy.net, as the boy will need transfusions again as part of his treatment.
About 50 percent of Americans with blood types O and A negative are CMV negative, which is what Oscar needs; the comparable figure for Irish people is 85 percent, which is why a particular appeal was made to the New York immigrant community.
“We had many willing donors,” Murphy said. “The Web site worked a treat. Eva [his wife] and I are very grateful and appreciative for the kindness and support we’ve received.” (The couple are expecting their third child in little over a month. “We’re making arrangements on that front,” Murphy said.)
Two and a half weeks ago, Oscar was taken off life support and transferred from New York Presbyterian back to Sloan-Kettering.
“He was incubated and sedated for several weeks, but he’s quite coherent now and he’s aware of what’s going on around him,” his father said at the time.
The Murphys eldest child, 9-year-old son Fionn, who is the bone marrow donor, was brought back from Boston, where he was staying with relatives, to help raise Oscar’s spirits.