The roller coaster ride of battling aplastic anemia for 10-year-old Lilly Vanden Bosch of Dorr is on the upswing again.
It was only two months ago that Lilly’s mother, Meg, posted on Facebook that Lily was in New York, undergoing special treatment for a CMV virus. Meg Vanden Bosch posted this week, “…we were informed that Lilly’s CMV virus level (as of Tuesday) has finally dropped to zero! In addition, her platelet count has now risen to 150,000 (that’s considered NORMAL, folks) and tomorrow (Friday) will mark the four-week anniversary of her last infusion of any supportive blood products (red cells).”
She also reported that Lilly has started the weaning process off of the immunosuppressant (Cyclosporine), which will allow her new donated immune system to gradually begin to do the job it was (bone marrow) transplanted to do eight months ago.
“Those are three massive achievements on her road to recovery!” Med reported.
Lilly also is seeing the retina specialist again Friday to see what her eyes look like in comparison to last week’s exam, hoping there won’t be any signs of progression to put that concern to rest.
Over the past couple of weeks the family has reduced hospital visits to twice weekly and Meg will be returning to work one day a week in the near future.
“Even if Lilly is completely healed, without so much as a hint of any related issues for the rest of her life, none of us will ever be anywhere near the same,” Med posted. “The depths to which this experience has affected us are so profound that I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the bottom of them.”
Lilly was diagnosed more than two years ago with aplastic anemia, a rare blood disease that can be life threatening. She had a recurrence, which prompted the transplant last November.
The daughter of Tom and Meg Vanden Bosch, she has been in the hospital and faced a long period of isolation in her battle against a disease in which doctors say her immune system is attacking her bone marrow cells.
What great news! Lilly, have a long and fruitful life. God has given you and your family a precious gift – life! Do all you can to recover fully and listen to your health providers as you have so far. What a great outcome!