November 25, 2015
The pain in my chest is unbearable, it feels like my chest is about to explode. I know this is just
another crisis, but that doesn’t make the pain go away. I’ve already missed several days of school
because of sickle cell disease, which means that today just means extra make up work. I feel like my
teachers don’t understand what I’m going through, and I’m sure they don’t. They just think I’m trying to
get out of school. Although my sickle cell disease doesn’t just affect school, I can’t even go to my friend’s
house to go sledding because cold weather can cause a crisis. Seems like every time I want to do
something the doctors say I can’t. My hematologist, Dr. Jones, is the only one who seems to understand
that I want to be a normal 15 year old. Dr. Jones is the one who diagnosed me when I was only 10
months old. When I was a baby, I had a horrible crisis and my parents took me to the hospital. My
parents had no clue I had sickle cell, neither my mom nor my dad have it, but after a few hours at the
hospital and a visit to Dr. Jones it was discovered that I have sickle cell disease. I now visit Dr. Jones
frequently. She is also the one who recommended for me to get a bone marrow transplant. I am going to
see her again in two days so she can tell me all about the transplant and maybe she will even be able to
schedule a time for the procedure.
November 28, 2015
The visit with Dr. Jones yesterday went amazingly well! I learned that I have the opportunity to
receive a bone marrow transplant on December 5th. This is exciting news because only one out of ten
people with sickle cell disease have a matching donor, meaning the other nine out of the ten cannot
receive a bone marrow transplant. Usually the donor is a sibling and luckily, my sister Kate and I are a
match. Dr. Jones seemed pretty optimistic about the procedure and encouraged me to take the
opportunity, but she allowed me to have the final decision. I went home and researched for hours about
bone marrow transplants and the risks and benefits of the procedure. I learned that there are some major
risks. There is even a chance that I will die. Some other risks are…

…my immune system will not be weak enough and it would then attack the new stem cells (that
are found in Kate’s bone marrow)

…Kate’s stem cells and my stem cells will not match close enough and my immune system will

begin attacking my organs
…the transplant may cause seizures and bleeding in my brain
I decided to go ahead and have the procedure despite all these negatives because the transplant may
completely cure my sickle cell disease. 85% of people who undertook the procedure were cured of sickle
cell, so I feel like the odds are in my favor. For the procedure, I will take medication to destroy my stem
cells. The medication is a very important part because if I do not take enough of it, my immune system
will begin attacking Kate’s stem cells. After the medicine goes into effect, a surgeon will remove bone
marrow (which contains stem cells) from Kate and put them in my blood stream through one of my veins.
Kate’s healthy bone marrow (she does not have sickle cell) will hopefully begin to produce normal
hemoglobin in my body. If my bone marrow begins producing normal hemoglobin the transfusion will be
successful and I will be cured of sickle cell anemia. This is because the abnormal hemoglobin produced
in my bone marrow causes my red blood cells to be sickled. With normal hemoglobin, my red blood cells
will no longer be sickled and I will be cured of my chronic disease. I am so excited that I may be cured of
this disease, meaning I can finally start living life to the fullest.
December 12, 2015
The bone marrow transplant was successful! I am now cured of sickle cell meaning no more
crises. I don’t have to worry about blockages anymore. This transplant has begun a new chapter of my
life, and I couldn’t be any more grateful for having a sister!