Hello friends, family, and internet strangers,
This blog is dedicated to chronicling Eddie’s epic battle against Aplastic Anemia and his road to recovery.
If you’re reading this blog, you probably really care about Eddie and want to know how he’s doing or you scoured the web for all things Aplastic Anemia and stumbled across this blog. Whatever your reason is, we appreciate your interest in Eddie’s story and we hope that you will take comfort in knowing that Eddie is a fighter, trained to push through the hard times, and blessed with a strong support group of family members, friends, and healthcare professionals.
I, Anna, Eddie’s partner in crime and co-writer of this blog, will do my best to keep you updated on Eddie’s journey and hopefully share some insight into what it’s like to battle something as crazy and obscure as Aplastic Anemia.
Speaking of which, what the heck is Aplastic Anemia, you wonder. Don’t worry. Neither of us had heard of it either.
Here’s what Eddie felt when he was told he had Aplastic Anemia.
Aplastic Anemia is a rare condition in which your bone marrow stops producing blood cells — that includes white blood, platelets, and red bloods — the whole shebang. Fortunately, you can boost your level of red blood and platelets through transfusions in the short term. White blood cells, unfortunately, can not be infused. When your white blood cell count drops down to zero, like in Eddie’s case, you’re classified as neutropenic. This is a big deal because your white blood cells are what fight off infection and bacteria. I know.
Ay carumba!
Aplastic Anemia is so rare that it’s estimated that 4 out of every 1 million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. Man, if only we had had such luck with the Power Ball!
You can imagine when Eddie was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. We were like, “Oh, good. It’s not cancer, but it’s what now!?“
Eddie’s diagnosis and early treatment efforts make for an interesting tale, but I will have to save that for another post.
The big news this week is that Eddie’s doctors have concluded that the ATG drug therapy he was on for the past few months did not work, and now it’s time to try a bone marrow transplant.
A BMT is certainly no walk in the park, but we hope that it’s the thing that will cure Eddie of his Aplastic Anemia. Bone Marrow Transplants are currently the only thing that have been proven to cure Aplastic Anemia completely.
There are still a few weeks of consultations, exams, and tests that Eddie needs to undergo before the bone marrow transplant happens, but the process has been set in motion. I will be sure to update the blog on how things progress.
I will end with this. I know firsthand how hard it is to see someone you love endure such hardship. To anyone who is feeling this way, I just want say that as long as we support each other, we can muster up the strength to put up the good fight. Or, as they like to say in Korea, hwaiting!
