Elizabeth Rose Loop is a six-year-old girl who has a rare life-threatening disease called Aplastic Anemia.  She was first diagnosed in August of 2007 when she was four.  This shocking diagnosis was heartbreaking to her parents and other loved ones.  The only warning they had was a couple months of symptoms like easy bruising, a few time of illness with high fevers, occasional headaches, and tiny red dots on her skin.  A dermatologist had misdiagnosed the red dots as "eczema."  But her parents doubted this and had another doctor give a second opinion, and that is when this doctor ordered labs to be done on Elizabeth's blood.  Her parents got a call from that doctor as soon as they got home from the appointment with the news that they needed to take Elizabeth to the children's hospital emergency room right away.  Her blood counts were showing all three types of blood cells were abnormally low (platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells) and that it could be leukemia or a couple of other things.  After a few days in the hospital of transfusions and tests, the bone marrow biopsy showed that she had a very low amount of bone marrow cells and that's why she wasn't producing enough blood cells.  The name for this condition, Aplastic Anemia, was something her parents had never heard of, and not suprisingly, for it only affects about 3 in every million people in the United States.  It causes a weakened immune system, fatigue, and easy bruising/bleeding.  Without treatment, a person will die of either infection or excessive bleeding within six months to a year. 

In December, 2007, the doctors began treating Elizabeth with certain medications to suppress her immune system, as this is an autoimmune disease, but this kind of therapy didn't work enough to get her in remission.  Now they have recommended that she have a bone marrow transplant.  Because of insurance complications, the Loops will need to travel to Northern California to have this done most likely in the Spring of 2010, and they are in need of financial help in order to cover the possible costs beyond what their insurance will cover.  Any help will be greatly appreciated toward their fundraising efforts, not only monetary, but hands-on fundraising help.  All funds raised are tax-deductible and go to COTA (Children's Organ Transplant Association) for transplant-related expenses.  For more information, you can contact their Campain Coordinator, Curt Roy, at 801-943-2064.