Family welcomes Luke home again

4:50am Tuesday 17th June 2008

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HE is finally well enough to be back home with his family.

Luke Hartley, the youngest of four Hampshire brothers to undergo lifesaving treatment to cure him of a genetic condition, is at last back in Romsey.

The eight-year-old, pictured, suffered two seizures while in London's Great Ormond Street Hospital last week, but was well enough to come home at the weekend.

Luke underwent a bone marrow transplant to cure him of X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome (XLP) in November and then spent Christmas and New Year in an isolation room while his immune system rebuilt.

He returned home in January but had to go back to hospital in April after contracting a virus.

Dad David said: "We are just grateful that he has recovered so well and so quickly and we are amazed that he is now home.

"He is now very well. There is no sign of temperatures and he is gradually starting to eat solid food again."

All four Hartley boys - Joshua, 16, Nathan, 14, and 12-year-old Daniel - were diagnosed with XLP in November 2003. The life-threatening condition left them with no immunity against illnesses such as cancer of the blood and glandular fever.