Angelique Walker, 4, is sickle cell free after a life-saving bone marrow transplant from her sister. (MyFoxAtlanta.com)
A Georgia 4-year-old is recovering after receiving a life-saving bone marrow transplant from one of her three sisters.
Angelique Walker, who was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia as a newborn, received the transplant in December from her 9-year-old sister and is now sickle cell free and on her way to recovery, MyFoxAtlanta.com reported.
“God is good. It is almost unheard of. We have four daughters; we got the other three tested. Two out of the other three tested were perfect matches for her,” Benjamin Walker, Angelique’s father told MyFoxAtlanta.com.
Angelique has spent much of her young life in and out of Egleston Children’s Hospital, meaning her family’s home in Jonesboro was often too far for the family to visit. Through the Ronald McDonald House, the sisters were able to stay close together.
“It’s been extremely important because when she was in the hospital the other two couldn’t visit her because of her age, so they hadn’t seen each other in seven weeks,” Alisha Walker, Angelique’s mother told MyFoxAtlanta.com. The family is now staying together at the Ronald McDonald House while Angelique continues to gain strength.
“It’s been a roller coaster, it’s been up and down,” Alisha told the news station.
Sickle cell anemia is a blood disorder in which the body makes sickle-shaped red blood cells making it difficult to move throughout the blood vessels, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Blocked blood flow can cause pain and organ damage as well as raise the risk for infection.
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