Eli's Journey

Meet Eli, a typical soccer-loving, mayhem-making 3 year-old boy. In August 2014, Eli started having bleeding issues. A stay at the hospital revealed an autoimmune disorder, Evan's Syndrome. Eli's body creates antibodies that attack his red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. With more and more tests and hospitalizations, Eli's doctors began having an increasingly difficult time controlling his blood counts and keeping him stable and well. The doctors suspected an underlying immunological cause of Eli's Evan's Syndrome, so they sent Eli and his family to see a specialist three states away at Duke, in Durham, NC. That doctor was able to run more tests and diagnose Eli with a rare variant of Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID- also known as bubble boy syndrome). SCID is usually fatal in infancy without a stem cell transplant. The only known cure is a stem cell transplant. Eli will receive his stem cell transplant in January  and spend three months at Duke.
Since August, Eli's parents have had to miss a considerable amount of work due to hospitalizations. Eli's mom will not be able to work while she takes care of Eli during transplant. This family has experienced growing medical bills and lowered income to cover expenses due to the time away from their jobs.
We appreciate any help you are able to offer this family, as their living costs and medical bills will be more than they can cover as they deal with a transplant for their baby and being separated for three months, with only one parent able to work while the other cares for Eli.