Gregory's Aplastic Anemia battle

Gregory Dunbar is 18 years old, and has recently been diagnosed with severe Aplastic Anemia, a very rare and serious bone marrow disorder.

This life-threatening disease affects 0.7 - 4.1 people per million... worldwide.

On the afternoon of May 14th, 2019 after experiencing extreme throbbing headaches and unusual fatigue for about a week, Gregory felt the need to see a doctor. 

After a relatively short exam at Sutter Urgent Care in Yuba City, it was discovered that his white blood cell count was 1.1, his red blood cell count was 1.27,  his platelet count was 3 , and his hemoglobin count was 5.1 

Here's a reference of normal counts for men:

WBC (4.5 to 11.0)
RBC (4.7 to 6.1)
PLT (150 to 450)
HGB (13.5 to 17.5)

Gregory was then rushed via ambulance to Sutter Memorial Hospital in Roseville, CA.

Upon arriving, he was immediately administered 3 units of blood and 2 units of platelets in an effort to stabilize him before proceeding with countless tests to try to discover why his body no longer produced the necessary blood cells on its own.

6-days later (and after a bone marrow biopsy) Gregory was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia, which is essentially a bone marrow failure  disease.

He was then transferred (again via ambulance) to Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento where he endured an excruciating 4-day ATGAM (Lymphocyte Immune Globulin, Anti-thymocyte Globulin) treatment designed to promote his bone marrow to produce new blood cells. His doctor says that it takes at least three months to see if the ATGAM will be effective.

Several more days of multiple platelet and blood cell transfusions, X-Rays, EKG tests, and ongoing blood tests followed.

After he was released from the hospital, we began traveling from Yuba City to the infusion center in Sacramento where Gregory continues to receive blood and platelet transfusion's 2 to 3 times a week, in addition to the medications he takes to suppress his immune system which includes (among others) chemotherapy medication.

Then, in late June, we learned that Gregory's body began fighting against the blood transfusions, meaning his system is now starting to develop antibodies that damage or destroy donor blood cells, thus making it difficult to get the right type of blood that he needs, and increasing the number of trips to the infusion center each week.

In the interim (as a result of his extremely low immune system) his doctor has advised that he stay away from public areas and activities. Therefore, (with the exception of going to the infusion center) Gregory is essentially isolated at home.

Prior to all of this, Gregory had been holding a steady job at a local pizza restaurant for just over a year, and was less than 2 weeks away from completing his freshmen year of junior college.

The road ahead will be long and daunting. If the first treatment of ATGAM is not successful, he will have to endure another excruciating 4-day treatment from a different type of ATGAM, which will require a minimum of another three months of waiting to see if the medication will have a positive effect.

If the second dose proves unsuccessful, Gregory will then need a bone marrow transplant, which would require a special donor, because he doesn’t have a full-biological sibling (which would be ideal).

Please keep us all in your prayers as we remain hopeful that these doctors and treatments will save our sons life, and get him back to the normalcy of being a young, strong, incredibly brave and beautiful young man doing the things he loves to do such as body building, enjoying the outdoors, and hanging out with friends.
 
Your kind donations would be greatly appreciated by Gregory and our family. it would help absorb the costs of medical bills and travel expenses related to this heartbreaking turn of events in our lives.

“God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers”

Please help Gregory fight this battle... and spread the word!


Clinical information:

Aplastic Anemia - Click here! 

Immunosuppressive Therapy - Click here!

Be The Match (Donate bone marrow) - Click here!