When Tyler was 2 1/2 years old, he was getting a lot of bruises and then he got an ear infection that wouldn’t go away. After an extremely high fever, we took him back to the pediatrician. I remember thinking there had to be something more going on. After labs were taken, we got the diagnosis of Leukemia. My stomach sank.
He started chemotherapy soon after. We were living at the hospital while he was receiving treatment. When they checked his counts, he didn’t reach remission. The doctors had to rethink his treatment plan and we had to look at other options because chemotherapy wasn’t going to save him.
We got in touch with the bone marrow transplant team. We had to find a match for him. Thank goodness we got a call that a match had been found. Even then, I tried not to get too excited because even though he had match, would he say yes? Well he did!
We prayed for a successful transplant. He came through beautifully! The doctors and I were amazed at his recovery. He was 100% of the cells of his donor.
I wanted to know who the donor was. I wanted to thank him. I sent him a card and told him that I appreciated everything he had done for us and how he saved our little boy.
Then one day, my phone rang. It was Ralph, Tyler’s bone marrow donor. I immediately started crying. We arranged to meet in person and thanking him in person means so much.
Hope session by Ashley Spaulding Photography