On February 17, 2012, at exactly 5 1/2 years old, we took our boy Jake to a doctor’s appointment to try and figure out why in just one week he was bruising more than usual, had a very slight but persistent bloody nose, and was too tired to walk to school. Later that night we were stunned when he was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia. For reasons currently unkown, Jake’s bone marrow has stopped working – which means that it's not producing red or white blood cells or platelets.
What does that mean?
- First, it means life as Jake knew it prior to Feb 17 has changed dramatically. Kindergarten has been replaced with a daily regime of medications and a weekly regime of doctor's appointments, blood tests and transfusions.
- Second, it means life for our family now requires a crash course in pediatric hematology, homeschooling Jake and constantly struggling to figure ways to keep his life "normal" but safe for a creative, busy, happy kid with no immune system and dangerously low levels of blood in his body.
- Third, and most important, it means finding Jake’s cure, a bone marrow transplant. This is where you come in...
