Caleb fights Severe Aplastic Anemia
Donation protected
Caleb is a 15 year old Freshmen.
First week of June, Caleb was walking to the pool with friends, it is 4 blocks from home. He suddenly felt light headed, saw spots and almost passed out. We went to the Doctor they drew blood to run tests, we then left thinking he was anemic, nothing major. Within two hours we received and call they wanted to admit him they thought he had leukemia. Our entire world came crashing down around us!!! We spent the next week in the hospital every test they ran came back negative, we had no idea what Caleb actually had. He had a bone marrow biopsy done, the only thing they could figure was Severe Aplastic Anemia..... but they could not and still have not figured out why he has this disease. We were referred to UW Health in Madison for more testing and again every test that came back was negative.
Severe Aplastic Anemia means his bone marrow is not producing red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets. He is constantly exhausted, bleeding issues, headaches, body aches, burning limbs, extremely pale and severe body cramps. He has trouble concentrating making school extremely hard. He does not usually make it an entire day in school.
We tried a medication ATG to try and jump start his bone marrow to make calls but unfortunately that has not worked. Our next step is a bone marrow transplant. This can not be done locally we will be spending 3-4 months at either UWHealth or Mayo, that has yet to be decided. Caleb will have chemo to kill his bone marrow, destroying his immune system. We will need to find a bone marrow donor also. We tested Caleb brothers Ben but unfortunately he was not a match.
Throughout all of this I (mom) have not been able to work. It’s been four months since I have been able to work, this combined with the time we will be in the hospital will be about 8-9 months. With so many appointments and Caleb not being able to make it a whole day at school. Doctors also prefer him not to be alone for long. With loss of my income bills are piling up, cost of traveling, hotel, food looming in the near future it is becoming overwhelming. We would really appreciate any donation to get through this awful time in our lives.
As a side note I am a three year breast cancer survivor and now this has happened to our family. We are working really hard to stay positive and strong to work through this!! Any help and prayers would be gratefully appreciated!
First week of June, Caleb was walking to the pool with friends, it is 4 blocks from home. He suddenly felt light headed, saw spots and almost passed out. We went to the Doctor they drew blood to run tests, we then left thinking he was anemic, nothing major. Within two hours we received and call they wanted to admit him they thought he had leukemia. Our entire world came crashing down around us!!! We spent the next week in the hospital every test they ran came back negative, we had no idea what Caleb actually had. He had a bone marrow biopsy done, the only thing they could figure was Severe Aplastic Anemia..... but they could not and still have not figured out why he has this disease. We were referred to UW Health in Madison for more testing and again every test that came back was negative.
Severe Aplastic Anemia means his bone marrow is not producing red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets. He is constantly exhausted, bleeding issues, headaches, body aches, burning limbs, extremely pale and severe body cramps. He has trouble concentrating making school extremely hard. He does not usually make it an entire day in school.
We tried a medication ATG to try and jump start his bone marrow to make calls but unfortunately that has not worked. Our next step is a bone marrow transplant. This can not be done locally we will be spending 3-4 months at either UWHealth or Mayo, that has yet to be decided. Caleb will have chemo to kill his bone marrow, destroying his immune system. We will need to find a bone marrow donor also. We tested Caleb brothers Ben but unfortunately he was not a match.
Throughout all of this I (mom) have not been able to work. It’s been four months since I have been able to work, this combined with the time we will be in the hospital will be about 8-9 months. With so many appointments and Caleb not being able to make it a whole day at school. Doctors also prefer him not to be alone for long. With loss of my income bills are piling up, cost of traveling, hotel, food looming in the near future it is becoming overwhelming. We would really appreciate any donation to get through this awful time in our lives.
As a side note I am a three year breast cancer survivor and now this has happened to our family. We are working really hard to stay positive and strong to work through this!! Any help and prayers would be gratefully appreciated!
Organizer
Diane Nagel Atchison
Organizer
La Crosse, WI
