By Jenny Brown
When little Lewis needed a very special gift, it was his big brother who came to the rescue.
Billy Sargent-Wilson grabs his baby brother and hugs him tightly as they hurtle down the playground slide, laughing. Afterwards, they share a raspberry muffin, toddling around the family kitchen.
No tears, no fights. It’s clear these cute little boys possess a very special bond, although they’re still too young to comprehend just how unique they really are.
Aged only three, Billy has already given his brother the most precious gift imaginable — donating his healthy bone marrow for a life-saving transplant.
“I love Lewis, I gived him my bone marrow,” sturdy blond Billy says proudly, showing off the “World Champion Effort” medal his grateful family bought him. “I’m a good boy.”
And you won’t hear any argument from his parents, school teachers Kerrin and Adam Sargent-Wilson, from NSW’s steel city, Wollongong.
“Billy was the golden child when we discovered his bone marrow was 100 per cent perfect,” grins his 34-year-old dad. “We were so excited, because there was only about a 25 per cent chance of a match, and a lot of families aren’t that lucky…
Read the full story in Woman’s Day (on-sale February 4, 2008)
Saving Kids, narrated by Australian Idol’s Damien Leith, premieres on Network Ten on Thursday, February 7, at 8pm.
