We had quite the journey. Henry was brought into the hospital showing signs of jaundice and fatigue four days before his second birthday. We were whisked away to ICU and encountered a 30 day hospital stay, where there were several running diagnosis. Henry had 14 blood transfusions and it was discovered he has a very rare IgA antibody that was destroying his red blood cells. Henry showed signs of kidney failure and was not responding to the majority of treatments. He has a diagnosis of Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia. Doctors feel this is a chronic genetic condition, but we have yet to discover the genes that are “bad”. He was treated with a variety of treatments, but at the moment the Rituximab seems to be controlling the IgA antibody.
