Ramsay

Until the winter of 2021, Ramsay was in seemingly great physical health, he had never gotten anything more than a regular cold, and even those were very mild in nature. One day, out of the blue, he was sent home from school with a headache, at home he seemed fine, chugged a glass of fruit punch and a snack, watched his tablet for a bit and then decided to have a nap. About an hour later our lives were flipped upside down, Ramsay was getting sick and kept wanting to go to sleep, when he was awake, he seemed like a zombie and didn't know where he was. After being rushed to the hospital, it didn't take long for him to get transferred to McMasters hospital, with the doctor telling me that he has Aplastic Anemia.

Ramsay and I lived in the hospital for almost a year together he received blood and platelet transfusions at least 3 times/week, he went through HATG and RATG treatments with zero success and ended up getting what started as an eye infection, which spread to his sinuses and eventually into his bone, with the greatest fear that it would get into his brain, he had no white blood cells, so this infection almost took his life, several times.

The only thing that could save him was a stem cell/bone marrow transplant, something that is not done with a current infection, but we had no choice. Because this was during the Covid days, the only matches were no longer willing/available to donate; as his mother, and as all parents are only a 50% match, I was the only option, I did the process to donate my cells and Ramsay had a Haplo stem cell transplant.

I watched Ramsay go through so many procedures, blood transfusions, surgeries, chemo and so much more, he lost so much time, so many holidays, and earned himself probably 40 feet of bravery beads; I can honestly say that he is my greatest hero.

For a year after the transplant, he was not able to leave the house much, his immune system needed time to build up. Today Ramsay is still not in the healthy range for any of his blood cells, but he is holding them steady, he is a happy, bouncy, 12 year old boy who is left with constant headaches, chest pains and permanent organ damage.

There is a constant fear of rejection/relapse, and I have not been able to go back to work since, but thanks to the Guelph Wish Fund, he's been able to have things that keep his mind on just having fun, and being a child, I am forever grateful.

- Josée

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