Isabelle Hall

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. Please know we are thankful to have so many special people in our lives and we appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement to Isabelle as she goes through this journey to get back to good health.  I, Isabelle's mom, am the author of this site and on Isabelle's behalf along with Lydia and Tim, would like to thank you for your care, concern, love and friendship!  

So, Isabelle, as most of you know, is a very driven person and has always been a health conscious kid by exercising rigorously, eating healthy, drinking plenty of water, having good sleep patterns, etc., etc..  Last year (2016) she had a terrific senior year in high school with the highlight being her love for soccer and the accomplishments the team made.  In the fall Isabelle moved to Cedar Falls to start her freshman year of college at UNI.  All started well and as the first semester was half complete she began to not feel well (tired, fatigued, colds). During Thanksgiving break we could see she was a little under the weather and started to take note to a greater degree. She then began to come home more often and it became apparent she was not herself. The first day of Christmas break - Dec 14 - we had her drive straight from Cedar Falls directly to the Pella Medical Clinic.  She obtained an antibiotic and was expected to improve in 7-10 days. Isabelle, however, was still so tired and slept through our Christmas gatherings.  She also had several bruises, red spots, shortness of breath and headaches; no improvement,  was worse.  On Dec 28 we took her back to the Pella Clinic.  I was determined to get her tested for mono ... this illness had to be taken care of before she went back to UNI for second semester (Jan 2017).  This is when things started to move in a direction that was very unexpected. From there, several more doctor visits, blood test and imaging occurred in the following days which moved into weeks and then into months . . .  then, suddenly, we are on a new path headed to Mayo Clinic.  There was a serious concern.

Isabelle has been diagnosed with a bone marrow failure syndrome.  Because the blood and DNA is so complicated there are so many different types of illnesses to test for.  We continue to wait for additional tests to return, but at this point the doctor is referring to her illness as Aplastic Anemia.  Aplastic Anemia is when the bone marrow fails to produce blood cells needed for the body.  So in essence she has low white blood cells which means she can get sick very easily and is tough to recover, she has low red blood cells which transports oxygen through out body so she feels fatigued, tired and has headaches and then low platelets which does not allow her blood to clot as needed so she can easily bleed externally and internally.  This isn't caused by anything other than her DNA genes. It is a life-threatening condition, however, Aplastic Anemia has not met ISABELLE HALL! and, the treatment options can turn this around!  Isabelle is the same Isabelle and she is ready to kick this condition in the butt.  She so badly wants to be back to her healthy self and feel better and she’ll do whatever it takes to get there!  A bone marrow transplant is her best defense and we pray for just one person in this world to be her match!  Please consider being a bone marrow donor and connect with Be the Match.  

Below you will see the details of Isabelle's journey starting from the end of Dec 2016.