Jasper's fight
Donation protected
( Jasper pictured on the right ) Blake and Amber started noticing back in November 2016 that jaspers legs were hurting all the time. Then they noticed he was getting very tired and not wanting to play, not wanting to eat and just out of energy. A couple weeks later They found bruises on his body in weird places. Jasper is only 6 years old
On December 16th Amber went with her mommy gut and took him to Children's of Atlanta. They told her that he looked good but his platelets were a little low. A normal person should have anywhere from 150,000 - 450,000 platelets but jasper only had 83,000. They told her to see her dr in a week and then to see a hematologist in two weeks. The next week his count went to 70,000. They tried to tell her it was possibly ITP. She knew it wasn't . So on the 30th of December she went and met with the hematologist. They did blood work and after several weeks they ruled out leukemia. This was a huge blessing! His platelets were around 65,000. They told her he would have to come every two weeks to keep checking and still no clue was going on with this sweet child. But she had noticed his symptoms were getting worse , he no longer wanted to play at all. Everything normal for a 6 year old boy seemed to take everything out of him. The next time they went they had dropped down to 53,000. The dr was very concerned and said its time for more extensive testing
Jasper had a bone marrow biopsy and bone marrow aspiration the same week. They had to wait a week before they would know anything. Finally answers on February 3rd Jasper was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. This means his bone marrow isn't functioning ( or is suppressed) as it should. A child his age should be working 60-75% and Jasper was only working at 5%. The dr told them he will have to have a bone marrow transplant. A lot of test Results are still not back.. On February 10th the dr did blood work on Jasper to have his type tested so they can look for a donor. The first person the go to are the siblings. The next step was having Kyan his older brother and Bevin his older sisters blood tested. Now we wait two more weeks to see if they match. Jasper is now going every week to have blood checks bc he will need a blood transfusion before he gets his transplant. Jasper's numbers have continued to drop and he is now having headaches and leg pains which are getting worse.
The odds are much better if a sibling is a match. If they are not there is the next step of medication therapy that can also have a lot of negative side effects , then if this doesn't work they would go to an outside donar . They have not determined yet if this was caused by a viral infection or if it was hereterity. Either way Jasper will undergo chemo and radiation in preparation for the transplant. Sadly it does not always take on the first try.
Right now Jasper can not play outside , no playground at school, no rough housing with other boys. The risk of an internal bleed is a huge threat.
No family should have to be split with mom and son in the hospital and dad with other children at home. We do not want the financial stress to have any affect on this family getting Jasper better . There will be a lot of days neither one of them will be able to work . The doctors have told Amber to expect 30+ days in the hospital and then possibly 30+ days in the Rondal McDonald house and this is best case scenario if one of the siblings is a match and everything goes smooth.
These two parents would give there shirts off there back if someone was in need and never ask for anything in return. If you can give to help with the financial aspect of this life altering fight for Jasper ..please do. We prey for healing for this sweet child, we want to see him back to playing and running around like a normal 6 year old boy should be.
Organizer and beneficiary
Blake Amber Bennett
Organizer
Covington, GA
Amber Bennett
Beneficiary
