An MCS family recently shared their story about their new baby who was diagnosed with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID). Their story is unique as Calla is the first of the approximately 61,000 newborns screened for SCID so far in Utah to have a positive test result. Calla, sister to Tatum, has been in isolation at Primary Children’s Hospital since a few days after her birth and is awaiting a bone marrow transplant.
Logan and Jody, parents to Calla and Tatum, have been advocates and supporters of MCS even while their sweet new baby is staying the the hospital. They even recently spent the evening volunteering at the Halloween Carnival. We want to offer our love and support to Tatum, Logan, Jody and especially Calla. Their story is touching…Read more here, here and here about SCID and about Calla’s upcoming transplant.
We hope that the surgery goes smoothly and that Calla is able to come home to her family soon. The family feels blessed that Calla has remained healthy up to this point and we wish them all the best. This is a great opportunity for us to teach our students the importance of good hygiene and care of self!
A brief word to the MCS community from Logan and Jody:
We are very lucky that Calla’s illness was caught so early and we are holding our breath as we await her bone marrow transplant. They found a 10/10 match for Calla through the National Bone Marrow Program, and we are incredibly thankful that somewhere out there an anonymous donor agreed to help save Calla’s life. We’d like to encourage anyone who is willing to sign up for bone marrow registry at BeTheMatch.org. We knew little about bone marrow donation before all of this started, and we were surprised to learn that the process is quite easy: initially you’ll just send a cheek swab, and after that there is a ~1/500 chance over your lifetime that you’ll be called up to donate and save someone’s life!
Register at BeTheMatch.org.
Once Calla has received her transplant and the family is settled they hope to organize a drive for potential volunteers and we will share further information about that as it becomes available.