We started Marrow Man Inc as a way to pay forward all of the kindness and support from our family, friends and community that carried us through our journey.  We especially wanted a way to honor our faith in God and the amazing man who gave our son the rest of his life.   Our donor, who we have come to know as Danny from Dallas (Texas).  It all started a week past Trevor’s 8th birthday on a Friday afternoon after school.  Trevor had what I thought was a stomach virus.  After vomiting he formed little red dots on his

face called Petechia or bleeding into the skin.  Trevor had a history of bruising easily and having petechia show up occasionally. I was not too alarmed until it happened one week later and the petechia was much worse all over his mouth.  He had a blood test which showed all of his blood counts to be low especially his platelets.  He was admitted to Scottish Rite hospital in Atlanta for observation we spent  2 nights.  We were sent home with orders to continue blood tests and to see a hematologist if nothing changed.  We ended up at the AFLAC Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders seeing a hematologists, Dr. Clarke

Brown and Dr. Kathryn Sutton.  Within a couple of weeks Trevor had a bone marrow biopsy.  The biopsy came back positive for Fanconi anemia or FA, a very rare genetic condition that causes bone marrow failure among other things.  My husband and I were devastated.   We had never heard of FA and had no family reference to it either.  Our first question was can he live a long normal life?  Dr. Sutton hesitated with a deep breath.  At that moment our lives were changed forever.  She went on to tell us that much has been done with this condition over the past 10 years. Children were living longer healthier lives

due to advancements in bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplants.  We knew Trevor was going to need a transplant soon his bone marrow was only functioning at 5%.  We decided to seek the most expert care in Fanconi Anemia which led us to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio.  We met Dr. Stella Davies and her team at the FA comprehensive care center.  Dr. Davies explained that Trevor would not need a transplant until he started needing blood transfusions.  She further explained he needed a match to give him his new bone marrow.  His best chance at a match would be his 6 year old sister, Sable.

 

Unfortunately Sable was not a match for him so we then turned to the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry to find an anonymous donor.  Fortunately, Trevor had 3 matches out of millions.  Trevor had his first transfusion December 29th, 2014.  He entered Cincinnati Children’s Hospital on June 1, 2015 for his bone marrow transplant.  After 8 days of chemo he received his new cells from a man that at that time we knew only as “The Donor”.  Trevor spent a total of 35 days in the hospital and 100 days in Cincinnati at The Ronald McDonald House.  He is now a year past transplant and doing amazingly well.  At Trevor’s 1 year follow up appointment in Cincinnati we learned the true identity of The Donor his name is Danny.  We got to talk to him for the first time on the phone and thank him for his incredible kindness.  We got to meet he, his wife, Niki, and daughter Kassy when

they drove all the way to Georgia from Dallas, Tx

in July of 2016.  We were delighted to find out how much in common we have with them and how similar Trevor and Danny are in personality.  Trevor and Danny call one another blood brothers as they are true life blood brothers!