Jeana Moore is the grandmother of a leukemia survivor. Her granddaughter, Jada, received a bone marrow transplant at only seven months old, the donor was an unrelated one from Germany. After seeing a life saved, Jeana decided to literally take steps towards spreading awareness; she is walking across the continental United States in hope of [...]
I’ve mentioned before that I have never swabbed my cheek for another person or even donated blood. Now I rely on people not like me to live. Gulp.
I’ve tried to make up for my apathy by nagging others to join the marrow registry and posting here on the misconceptions associated with marrow donation. This video [...]
Platelets look weird. A bag ranges from yellow(like the unit I received shown above) to orange and has a glow—think Gatorade or radioactive comic goo. And I’m not the only one who doesn’t trust the sight of them, I often catch other patients looking at the bag, then back at the attending nurse, then back [...]
In October I posted my letter of appeal after Blue Cross Blue Shield’s told me it would not cover my bone marrow donor search. After hearing no response for several weeks I resent the letter certified and finally heard back. The verdict was…there was no verdict.
My appeal was not reviewed because I did not provide [...]
The video above highlights 6 year old Hispanic boy Antonio Rieder’s pursuit of a suitable match for the bone marrow transplant he needs. Taylor Matt, a teenager from New York who has also struggled to find a match through the registry because he is a quarter Native American. These stories are not uncommon among ethnic [...]
This Mayo Clinic video highlights the experiences of one leukemia survivor who underwent an autologous stem cell transplant, which means the cells used in transplant were her own. For those with aplastic anemia this is not an option, instead they must undergo and allogeneic transplant—-bone marrow(where stem cells that give rise to blood cells are [...]
This week is Nationl Aplastic Anemia Awareness week. Beginning in 1986, the week long campaign focuses on educating the public and spreading general awareness. The Aplastic Anemia and MDS Foundation offers up some ideas on how to help make the week a success, including wearing and dispersing of these bracelets I posted on a few [...]
Often I’m asked by friends or family to explain aplastic anemia, and often I find myself stumbling over words, trying to produce a clear picture. Sure, I can say my bone marrow is failing to produce adequate amounts of blood but visualizing that is tough. The above video from Johns Hopkins does a nice job [...]
Its been 140 days since ATG treatment, and as of now it has been unsuccessful. The treatment is based in the thought that aplastic anemia is an autoimmune disease—the bodies white blood cells have attacked it’s bone marrow, causing the marrow to fail and blood production to diminish. Since onset I’ve heard a variety of numbers [...]
The Roman philosopher Cicero said “In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health to men.” At times you will meet a doctor who buys this. More times, however, you will meet patients who do. As was the case with an older gentleman I spoke with briefly in a waiting room [...]
A. Anemia News
