Noel’s Aplastic Anemia

Noel was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia February 15, 2018. We were shipped out to Denver the 18 and we have been at the aurora children’s hospital in Colorado ever since. Severe Aplastic Anemia, like what Noel has is a very rare disease, maybe 20 people across the U.S are diagnosed with it every year, so not a lot. Aplastic Anemia is basically when your body doesn’t make any blood, his bone marrow is failing. He has undergone 3 bone marrow biopsy’s, in his most recent one they couldn’t find any white cells, platelets, and very little red blood cells. With him having no white cells, he has no immune system, no way to fight off any infection that he may get, he is on a lot of medicine to help prevent infection and to treat anything that may be hiding. Because he has no platelets and very little red blood cells he has gotten about 5 platelet transfusions and 5 blood transfusions, basically one a week. Noel has has been poked, prodded, and tested left and right since we’ve been here. Looking for what may have caused this, if he has any infections, diseases, making sure  nothing is missed. He ended up having a PICC line put in his upper left arm since he was getting so much blood work done and he kept losing all his IV’s. A picc is a form of central line, so far it has been working well for him not as many pokes for him! He has also had 2 CTs done, 2 X-rays, and a lung biopsy which resulted in him having a chest tube for a little while, all done since weve been here. For his treatment he will have to undergo chemotherapy to completely wipe out his bone marrow, then he will be needing a bone marrow transplant. Sadly Alan, Emma, or I were not a match, he was also checked on the big databases and they didn’t find him a match there either. They have yet to check in the smaller databases, but they will get on that soon. 80% of bone marrow donors are Caucasian so that puts Hispanics, people like us, in a 20% to find a perfect match. There is a site called bethematch.com if anyone would like to read up on it and possibly be a donor. You never really pay too much attention to things like this until it directly effects you, then you realize how important these things really are. We are looking  to be in Colorado for about a year for his treatment and in the hospital for at least a couple more months. Any little bit helps, we have a long road ahead of us and would appreciate anything. Thank you guys for reading our story ❤️