Brooklyn Gehrls

Where do we even begin?   Brooklyn's story begins back in February when she had what now seems like a short 4 night stay at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines.  Brooklyn was admitted for a petechial rash that had quickly spread through her trunk, back and head along with high fevers.  We found her hemoglobin and platelet levels to be below normal although not anything to be extremely concerned about.  After many tests we were told she had a combination of Rotovirus, Adenovirus and E-coli  (oh-my!).  Brooklyn was discharged back home and returned to somewhat of her normal spunky lifestyle.  April came along and we noticed Brooklyn becoming more lethargic each day, she developed severe cradle cap,  started bruising, the petechial rash started to come back and she was no longer interested in walking.  At her 15 month appointment we were admitted back to Blank Hospital (May 3rd)  and within an hour had been told her Hemoglobin was 2.5 and platelets 15,000.  Like many of you reading we were unsure of what to think about these numbers.  Normal hemoglobin levels should be between 13-15 and platelets above 150,000.  It was clear that her bone marrow was not functioning the way it should be.  That day Brooklyn had her first of many blood and platelet transfusions.  The next few weeks were spent conducting various tests to determine a diagnosis (multi systemic Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis).  We couldn't be more thankful for the constant support from those both near and far and would like to keep all of Brooklyn's fans updated throughout her journey via this site!