NIH to proceed with bone marrow transplant for 17-year-old to treat rare condition.


RENO, Nev. -- After being held in limbo by the government shutdown, a potentially life-saving transplant for a teenager with a rare genetic condition is back on track.

Austin Trowbridge's family found itself thrust in the national spotlight after the shutdown put the brakes on a bone marrow procedure for the 17-year-old.

STORY: Nev. teen's transplant stalled by budget wrangling

Austin suffers from myelodysplastic syndrome, or "pre-leukemia," a rare genetic condition that causes improper blood cell development and eventual bone marrow failure.

The same condition claimed the life of his older brother, Eric, in 2008.

Austin was supposed to get a marrow transplant in November as part of a clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health. The shutdown put the procedure on hold.

After a Reno Gazette-Journal article about Austin's situation, the family's story was picked up by national media such as USA Today and NBC's "Nightly News."

Since the story, the family got word from the NIH that it identified funding for Austin's surgery and will start looking for matching donors.

The family has not been given a date for the procedure but will get updates from the NIH every couple of weeks, said Austin's father, George Trowbridge.

Meanwhile, as lawmakers worked late Wednesday to approve a deal that would end the partial government shutdown, George Trowbridge reacted to the news.

"It looks to me like they're just putting a Band-Aid on it and we'll be going through the same theatrics after the holidays," Trowbridge said. "Common sense would dictate that they wouldn't want to go through this circus again and again."