These words shattered the lives of Sheryl and Brian Blakeslee when their 14 month-old son, Evan, was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia in September 1998. Evan's bone marrow had stopped making blood cells, leaving him extremely susceptible to infection and bleeding. A month earlier, Sheryl had noticed pin-point sized bruises on Evan's legs. She took him to Children's Hospital Medical Center where doctors performed blood tests revealing that Evan had a low platelet count.
Platelets are one of the components of blood that help blood to clot.
Normal platelet counts are between 150,000-400,000, and Evan's had plummeted to 5,000. Doctors told Sheryl and Brian that Evan's only hope for survival was a bone marrow transplant. As the search for a marrow donor began, Evan was hospitalized and doctors put him on powerful medications to bolster his immune system. He also required frequent platelet transfusions to help increase his platelet count. Other families were going through a bigger hell than we were, so I figured if they could do it, I could do it.