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We made it to another treatment day without anyone in our family getting sick! The week leading to treatment day has become pretty worrisome for me. What if someone in our family gets sick with or is exposed to COVID? Josh will not be able to get his infusion within the treatment window and then what? The questions I never thought I'd have to wonder about.

I know my fiancé well.  Even though he seemed to be healthy and his job kept him active, I knew it had been a long time since he had a medical physical, so I pushed him into an appointment.

Without symptoms, the doctor suggested routine blood work as a part of the physical.  We were surprised that all his counts were low.  The doctor decided to check again in a month, so I made sure that his diet was healthier and that he took vitamins, hoping that would correct any problem.  

As a typical community college student, Mariana was busy. Classes, studying, day trips, all were part of her life. Yet during one shower, she dropped to the floor, suddenly dizzy. A few weeks later she would be out of breath, with unusual bruises on her skin. At the end of the semester, she fainted in the grocery store while on vacation. Her parents dropped everything to drive the miles in a hurry, returning to an appointment with her family physician. Not yet diagnosed, she went to the first class of the new semester as usual, going to lunch and shopping with friends.

Alayna was a toddler when she was diagnosed with severe

Traveling with a rare disease 

Since treatment in July 2019, I have still been transfusion-dependent, receiving both blood and platelets. I get so short of breath when my blood is low. I really hate this disease. Because I’m still transfusion-dependent, I go back and forth for labs, doctor’s appointments, and transfusions. 

My diagnosis with

My name is Mychaela Lovelace. I had been a healthy five-year-old child until one day, when I came home, my mother noticed red dots and bruises on my body. Because she worked in the medical field, she was very concerned. She took me to the doctor, but my pediatrician wasn’t on in the office that day. The doctor I didn’t know said that I was just playing too hard and the dots and bruises were just a rash.

“Hey, Braeden, we need to go.”   
Little did 12-year-old Braden understand that he was headed towards hospital admission.

Earlier that day, Braden nearly passed out on the basketball court. He was a happy, athletic child, who excelled at several sports.  His mom, Becki, took him for blood work.

Later, Braeden’s parents heard from the doctor’s office: take him to the Emergency Department now.  That’s when Braeden’s dad came to pick him up from his friend’s house, where he’d been playing normally.