Valley family's fateful decision helps young daughter years later

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - When Katie Murphy was born, her parents, Paul and Amy didn't see any problems.

"We thought everything was normal. About six to nine months later we noticed Katie not being able to sit up," said Paul.

Doctors told the Scottsdale family Katie wasn't strong enough, her muscles didn't work right.

"It's just low muscle tone, they call it Hypotonia," said Amy.

The condition has a nickname called, "Floppy Baby" syndrome.

But now, at 4 1/2 years old, Katie is starting to walk.

Paul and Amy say it's because of something they did when she was born.
"We thought hey, that would be a great idea just in case something should happen. So we banked the cord blood," said Paul.

In January, Katie had a stem cell transplant using that cord blood, replacing her damaged cells with new ones in the blood.

"Now all of a sudden she's just like bam, bam, doing things. Just progressing so much faster than she was," said Amy. "We're glad we did because we wouldn't have this opportunity if we had not banked the cord blood."

Giving little Katie the chance to grow up living a normal life.

"I'm glad, thank God that we saved that cord blood," seconded Paul.

Want to read more about Katie's story? Visit the Murphy family's blog