"It is early days," Mr Joe Fletcher said last night. "There is a long, long way to go. At the moment it is a case of so far so good."
He confirmed that his wife, Julie, discovered she was pregnant on Monday of last week. Her child will be a suitable genetic match for their two year old son Joshua.
"We are very happy everything has gone so well and we are keeping out fingers crossed that things will be OK," he added. Mr Fletcher said he and his wife had already spent nearly three weeks in London attending the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre, run by Dr Mohammed Taranissi. They returned to their home in Moira, Co Down, for a few days before going back to London for further consultation.
The couple said they were lucky in that the batch of eggs produced by Julie were a genetic match for their son who has the rare diamond blackfan anaemia.
Dr Taranissi said: "At the time of birth, we can actually take the cord blood, which is something which is dispensed with anyway.
"This blood has got stem cells, which are very primitive cells that can be transfused into the affected child. This, hopefully, will give him a very good chance of a complete cure."
Dr Taranissi said the chances of success were about 85 per cent.