- Charlie is the best thing to ever happen to us. Since birth, he has opened more minds and touched more hearts than all of my years combined. We were prepared for Charlie to have Down syndrome at birth but were not prepared for his serious blood disorder, Transient Myeloproliferative Disorder (TMD), a condition that occurs in 5-10% of Down syndrome babies. Despite his strong, healthy body, initially resolving the blood disorder for months, we received his diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. From the very start of Charlie's journey, extraordinary people have come into our lives the moment we needed them. A good friend and Mom's In Training (MIT) coach, who had lost her father to an aggressive form of cancer, encouraged me to join MIT. When she told me MIT was a group of moms supporting The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), a bell went off in my head. My son's blood disorder had just recently begun to show signs of returning, and the phrase "25% risk for childhood leukemia" was blazing in my mind. Two weeks later, Charlie needed a bone marrow aspiration, and as I anxiously awaited the test results, I attended the MIT kickoff. Because of the LLS community, I'm starting this journey from a strong place, 180 degrees from facing it alone.
Christy Allen, Charlie's mom
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