Tyson Needs A Cure
Hey We Eat 4 Life Family,
Tyson’s sickle cell has taken a turn for the worse. Basically his body never fully recovered after getting the flu in Dec. 2019. Even though he isn’t having a ton of pain crises, his blood work is showing that his blood has been sickling way too much and that it is causing him organ damage. We don’t know why it isn’t causing him more pain but we are truly grateful. His new doctor is recommending we put him on hydroxyurea (which is chemo) as well as a bone marrow transplant.
For those of you that don’t know, a matched sibling is the best option for a bone marrow transplant but because Jordyn also has sickle cell she cannot be a donor. We talked to the BMT (bone marrow transplant) doctor at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta but we were told Tyson wasn’t a viable candidate to be put on the Be The Match searching patient list. His primary sickle cell doctor is trying to preserve his organs and prevent him from having any further complications or any surgeries. Although a bone marrow transplant is a cure it cannot reverse any damage that his sickle cell has already done to his body. She is a mom of a warrior and understands first hand what we are going through.
So because I had my tubes tied after I found out Jordyn also had sickle cell, the only option is to go through IVF to have another baby that will match Tyson’s HLA and doesn’t have sickle cell, so that we can use the cord blood/bone marrow to cure Tyson. We had both of the kids HLA tested a while ago and both Tyson and Jordyn have the same HLA! Which means this baby’s stem cells will be able to CURE both Tyson and Jordyn! We always wanted more kids but I just couldn’t take the chance of having another child with sickle cell and watching them suffer. Doing it this way not only ensures that we won’t have another child with sickle cell but now we can stop the suffering Tyson and Jordyn go through.
I have always been honest about how painful it is to watch my babies go through so much and many of you have asked how you can help. Well, I finally have an answer other than prayer. Please donate to our Go Fund Me so that we can pay for this IVF process. Unfortunately, IVF is not covered by our insurance, and because of all the extra testing we have to get, to make sure this baby doesn’t have sickle cell while also having the right HLA, this process is going to be very costly. This is a long road ahead of us to get Tyson and one day Jordyn through transplant. Tyreke and I would really love your help! Thank you in advance and please keep praying for us!
We love you all so very much!!!