Aplastic anemia. What is that?
In simple terms, it’s a condition that causes your body to cease making an adequate number of blood cells. It’s a very serious condition, and in some cases, fatal.
Is there treatment? Yes, the most significant being a stem cell/bone marrow transplant. These transplants have been known to save lives, including the life of Laura Evans from Minnesota, eh?
Laura Evans has aplastic anemia, having been diagnosed in the 5th grade.
For years, her condition had been, for the most part, dormant. And then the year—no, month—of her wedding, it attacked with fervor, making her particularly susceptible to infections. Doctors worried that, if they couldn’t find a donor in no more three months, the situation could turn dire. Luckily, a donor was found just in time. Her name? Carin Harrison.
Carin describes the donation process as though it hardly required anything from her.
“I was not in any pain at all,” she told The Washington Times.
Ironically, this simple process saved a life—the life of a woman named Laura Evans, who was able to get married and have her honeymoon. And Laura does not take that for granted. She literally owes Carin her life.
“She’s special to me,” said Laura. “She’ll forever be.”
I often wonder what that kind of relationship would feel like. These two women must share a unique bond that not many people can understand. In certain ways, I envy that. I imagine there’s nothing like it.
