Sister Saves Sister

A little girl's battle with leukemia may finally be over. Thanks to her sister and a life-saving bone marrow transplant. And the immigration dispute that almost stood in the way of it, now just a memory. Joann Pileggi joins us from our newsroom with the story.

A shy little five year old faces the camera for the first time as a cancer survivor. Her grandfather, Gertrudis Ramirez, beaming and happy.

"We are so happy that my grand-daughter Yarelis is cured of cancer, we thank everybody," he said.

It was a long and scary medical journey for Yarelis, disagnosed with leukemia last year. The Roselle resident needed a bone marrow transplant and the best match for the procedure was her sister, seven year old Giselle. But Giselle lives in El Salvador.

"When they denied the visa, that was a hardest of the situation," Gertrudis told us.

Yarelis' condition worsened as her family waited anxiously. Giselle's visa was twice denied. In December, immigration officials finally granted a humanitarian temporary visa and the bone marrow transplant was done late last month.

Dr. Alfred Gillio from Hackensack UMC said, "She has no evidence of leukemia, we hope she is cured, the likelihood is that she is."

Family members say Giselle, the older sibling didn't complain about the surgery, she was happy to help and be with her sister.Who she called beautiful, even after little Yarelis lost her hair.