RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Five-year-old Zion Ortiz underwent a successful bone marrow transplant Tuesday that he has been waiting years to receive.

After an extensive search for a perfect match , the answer was closer than anyone imagined; his 14-year-old sister was a match .

“Zion is literally the strongest little kid I know,” his mother Taniqua Bates said earlier this year.

The transplant process began this summer at Duke Children’s Hospital in North Carolina. In preparation for the procedure, the family relocated to the area to be close to the medical facility during treatment.

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“Zion had a successful transplant today. Both he and sister are doing well,” Bates said in an email to 12 On Your Side.

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