A New Beginning: Oonagh's Bone Marrow Transplant Journey

Just before her 1st birthday, our sweet niece Oonagh started showing signs of pain & discomfort in her bones and joints, daily fevers and rashes all over her body. After many painful months and numerous tests/scans/pokes she was eventually diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, which then was diagnosed as SJIA (Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis) which is a chronic, rare auto-immune disease that attacks her entire body. Not too long after that she was diagnosed with Interstitial Lung Disease.

After a long 8 years of battling these awful diseases, she is finally getting the treatment she so desperately deserves. On January 4, Oonagh and her amazing mom Kelly (our wonderful sister-in-law) traveled to chilly Cincinnati, Ohio (a big change from our sunny Florida home) to complete, what has been a long journey towards, a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT).

With this BMT, Oonagh will undergo numerous procedures and tests. She now has gone through 2-weeks of chemotherapy to get her tiny body ready for the transplant. Her transplant of new cells was done on January 28th! Now her recovery will be long and hard – waiting for her body to accept and grow her new cells, her new immune system, her new life – she & Kelly will be in Ohio for 6-months or longer.

While in Ohio, once discharged from the hospital, they will be staying in the Ronald McDonald House, away from their family. Kelly away from her husband and other daughter, Odelle (6), Oonagh away from her dad and sister – plus they are away from grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles & friends.

This gofundme will help with the never-ending medical expenses, Tyler’s travel to and from Ohio, and preparing their home for Oonagh’s return – with her fragile immune system and vulnerable lungs, we need to replace flooring in their home and remediate the entire home including ducts, walls, etc to make sure the home is safe.

An additional financial reoccurrence will be covering an annual storage fee to preserve Oonagh’s fertility options for the future. We were offered the option, which is standard care of practice for all patients receiving chemo at Children’s. She has a high risk for future infertility so, during her central line placement, she was able to have one of her ovaries removed and frozen until she is ready to have children. We would like to cover as many years as possible for her.