Chapter 1
Angel. She is just a newborn and her life starts like any other newborns would. Her life starts normal. First birthday comes and she has a great time having cake for the first time. Her birthday is in August so fall comes and goes, same with winter and then spring. Her 2nd birthday is coming up. It is around July. Angel's mom notices something wrong with her, specifically the whites of her eyes. Now normally the whites of people's eyes aren't just white, they do have a tiny hint of yellow to them, but Angel's were a darker yellow than normal. Since Angel's mom was a single mom, Angel's mom and grandma took her to multiple doctors to try and figure out what was wrong. No doctor could figure out what was wrong, except for one doctor. He worked at Children's Hospital in Omaha. His name was Dr. David Gnarra. He helped Angel and her family through what she was about to go through. With some testing and blood work, they found out it was Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia or AIHA. They said that basically Angel's body was attacking itself. Her blood stream was thinking that her red blood cells were a foreign substance and the white blood cells were attacking and killing them off. So now Angel and her family were on a journey that lasted longer than they hoped. Let's just say it was a 7 year journey until Angel finally beat the blood disorder. The whole journey ended up starting June 8th, Angel's mom's birthday. Yes it was unfortunate but Angel's mom just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Angel, on the other hand, didn't have any idea what was going on because she was 1 almost 2. Angel had to go back to Omaha every month or even sometimes every couple weeks to get blood drawn for tests to see if medicine was working. She also had to have an iv in her arm for treatment that wasn't in pill form. Unfortunately, Angel got an iv burn on her left arm. She will always have the mark from the burn but it didn't scar her as much as her mom. Angel's mom was very scared for her child. When the doctors found out Angel had AIHA, they put her on at least 6 or 7 different types of medication. The one medication made her puff up and always hungry, so she ended up gaining weight. She was still a happy child, but she did get made fun of for being such a big kid at her age. At this point in time, Angel was around 4 almost 5. She was at her grandma's house for her birthday and she was opening presents. All of a sudden these people from the Make-A-Wish Foundation came in the room. At the time Angel didn't know what was going on or what was going to come. The people started talking to Angel's family. They had told Angel's family that they were going to pay for Angel's Make-A-Wish. A Make-A-Wish is a trip for kids with cancer or blood disorders, like Angel, could go on with their families. Angel's family had explained to her what was happening. Angel was always saying that she wanted to meet Cinderella. So, that became her wish and then her trip. Angel and her family ended up going to Disney in Orlando, Florida. They spent 7 days in a part right next to Disney called Give Kids The World. Give Kids The World is for kids with life-threatening illnesses and their families to stay. Even though the weather ended up becoming a tropical storm, Angel and her family still had a really fun time at Disney. For all the rides at Disney that Angel or her family wanted to go on, they didn't have to wait in line. They had what is called a fast past, which lets you go the front of the line. Angel ended up having the best 5th birthday any kid could get.
