Katie is my granddaughter. She turned 8 years old on March 26,2022. She has an older brother Derek, an older sister Ella, and a younger sister Amelia. Katie lives with her siblings, her mom Amanda and her dad Jacob in Marion, N.C.

Up until June 1,2022, Katie was your normal 8-year-old that loved doing arts and crafts, swimming, her dogs, and helping her mom bake cookies and cook dinner for the family.

On that fateful day, Amanda took Katie in to see the doctor because she had noticed a strange rash/bruising on Katie’s legs. After blood tests, the doctors discovered Katie had a dangerously low platelet count. For reference, normal is above 150,000, Katie’s was less than 7,000. There were several other abnormalities with Katie’s tests as well.

After several blood test, a bone marrow biopsy, platelets and blood transfusions, Katie has been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia.

As everyone knows the normal family household medical expenses today can be enormous, but add a life-threatening event such as this, it becomes overwhelming. The plan is that Katie will be able to receive a bone marrow transplant from one of her three siblings. If she is a match and is able to undergo the transplant, the family will still be facing the expense of multiple hospital visits, blood tests, and due to the location of the medical facility that Katie is being sent to, the family will also incur the expense of lodging.  

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
― Charles Dickens