Hello,

We are Kirsten and Thomas Didamo and we are raising money for our 4-year-old son, Wyatt and our family.

(TLDR at bottom)

Since Wyatt was born, his life has been a bit of a roller coaster. The initial surprise was that he was born without thumbs and under-developed radius bones. Then at four months old we found out he had hip dysplasia. Due to these surprises, and trying to find out the cause, he's been in and out of hospitals, gone through multiple surgeries that involved casts, hip braces, x-rays, genetic testing... the list goes on. He was about two years old, though, when we were given the diagnosis that explained all this: Fanconi Anemia.

"Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare inherited disease characterized by multiple physical abnormalities, bone marrow failure, and a higher-than-normal risk of cancer." (https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions-treatments/fanconi-anemia)

With this diagnosis the hospital visits didn't slow down they only increased, as now we had to check everything that could be affected by Fanconi Anemia. Side note: it's a lot. We also had to start regularly monitoring his blood counts, to watch for bone marrow failure, as well as keep an eye out for any potential cancers to pop up. We also were informed that once Wyatt inevitably needed a bone marrow transplant that we would have to travel to Minnesota for that; we live in southwest Iowa.

Initially it was a blood draw every 3 months with a yearly bone marrow biopsy under anesthesia. Then it became every 2 months with a biopsy twice a year. Then every month, then every 2 weeks, and recently once a week. Sprinkling trips to Minnesota throughout. We watched, and honestly held our breath, as our sons hemoglobin, ANC and platelet counts bounced around but slowly declined. His platelet count was the most concerning as for a normal person it ranges from 150-450 (thousands per microliter), his started out below 150 and only went down from there. We were told that when they stayed at, or below, 20 is when he would be considered "in bone marrow failure" and need a bone marrow transplant. Not so fun fact: 20 and below is also when a person has a higher risk of bleeding due to not having enough platelets to clot and stop the bleeding. Try telling a strong willed 4 year old that they can't rough house with, or attempt the same stunts, as their 7 year old brother.... yeah that's a current ongoing battle as well.

Anyways, we are unfortunately at the point of Wyatt needing a bone marrow transplant to help extend his life as his body's bone marrow is failing. In order to do this it will require a team effort from our family with Kirsten and Wyatt relocating to Minnesota for four months while Tom and our other two kids stay back in Iowa to hold down the fort and take care of our family pets. All of this will take a financial toll on our family in way of medical bills, lost wages and travel expenses, etc. which is the reason for this fundraiser.

TLDR: Our four year old child needs a bone marrow transplant, and we're looking for financial help to cover medical bills, lost wages, travel expenses etc.

Thank you for taking the time to read about Wyatt's story, even if you can't donate sharing his story is immensely helpful.