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As Giorgios was being prepared to donate his bone marrow to his baby brother, Nikolas was forced to be isolated at the Royal Children's Hospital ahead of the life-saving transplant, because his immune system had been wiped out.
The tot, then aged 21 months, had been diagnosed with an aggressive and treatment-resistant form of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, called MLL. Chemotherapy wasn't working.
But, against the odds, the older brother he idolised was the perfect match for a bone marrow transplant.
Just as they got the good news they had been praying for - that there were no leukaemia cells remaining - they found out he had relapsed, with cancer cells appearing in the spinal fluid.
"We had no time to be happy," mother Andrea Papastratis said. "I was crushed. It was worse than the initial diagnosis.
"It felt like we were starting again."
Nikolas started months of intensive chemotherapy, which will finish this week.
The last tests that were taken of the bone marrow and spinal fluid showed no cancer cells remained.
As he enters remission he will now start radiation of his head, before maintenance chemotherapy for the next two years.
Father Stel said 11-year-old Giorgios had played a big part in Nikolas' recovery and the boys would always share a special bond over the gift of life that had been granted.
"He always says: 'Giorgios, not go to school'. He never wants to be apart from him."
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