Happy Transplant Day to Paige!!!

 

It has been a very long day. Mike, Hannah and my mom arrived at 6:00 am to prep our little Hannah for her bone marrow harvest. She was understandably a little nervous being in this environment. She was prepped and I was able to walk back with her to the operating room. The harvest itself only took about 20-30 minutes. Two areas are chosen to insert the necessary tools to extract (basically vacuum) out her bone marrow. It took her a little bit of time to come out of anesthesia, but when she did she was fine. She really didn’t seem phased by it, just some soreness in the back hip area. They continue to reassure us that she will be sleepy today and by tomorrow she will be back to her normal self. Hannah was so very brave and we couldn’t be more proud of her. I wish she could understand the significant importance her selfless act was, but I know one day when she’s older she will. She has ultimately given her big sister a chance at life! They both showed true strength and we couldn’t be more proud of them. And a special surprise Hannah was able to come to Paige’s room to see her after she donated.

 

From the OR, Hannahs cells were sent to the lab for processing. It wasn’t until 1:30 until they would make their way back to Paige. Around 2:00, the Dr. arrived with the first of Hannah’s cells. We had chosen to store Hannah’s cord blood when she was born. The team chose to throw that into the mix bc it was just a little extra added cells. The Dr. pushed the cord blood through her central line. Once that was complete Hannah’s fresh bone marrow was brought to her bedside. This is the bag in the picture that looks similar to blood, but contains Hannah’s life saving cells. This was being administered via drip in her central line over the last several hours. PAIGES BODY HAS RECEIVED ALL OF HANNAHS CELLS!!! Praise the Lord for this opportunity to heal our little girl.

 

The whole process was a bit more anticlimactic than you would think, but we had be told of such. Nonetheless the significance of today has not been lost on us. We are grateful that God has allowed science to advance to where it is today; where bone marrow can be retrieved from one and enter another person and miraculously find their way through the body to the bone. That is nothing short of a sovereign God who has meticulously designed every fabric of our being.

As mike and our family have mentioned, your constant prayers and support have made each day doable. Huge thank you a million times over! We are forever grateful to you for that. A friend texted this morning to say she was praying and mentioned she could feel the body of Christ connected through prayer–we couldn’t agree more. The amount of peace we have felt during such an emotional and trying time is unexplainable, yet we know it is God strengthening us.

 

In the days to follow we wait for Paige’s TCell count to increase. The team will closely monitor her. As these cells increase, so will her discomfort. She will become sick for some time as something called Mucositis sets in. It can cause sores in her mouth and throat and often cause frequent vomiting. Please be praying for this to minimally affect her body. We will continue to update; we get daily updates ourselves from her medical team each morning. Her and I will remain in the hospital for another 5 weeks before transitioning to our apartment in Philly for several more months.

 

And for those who took the time to come to LEDOS last night or order online to support COTA for Paige, a huge thank you!! We were completely blown away by so many!! I haven’t gotten around to show Paige all the fun pictures of you all eating your pizza, but the ones I have shown seriously brought a huge smile to her face!!! And then she was sure to tell me that she was jealous you got to eat it because she is not a fan of the hospital pizza! Haha.

GO LITTLE CELLS GO!!!