Carroll University student beats bone marrow disease

At 11-years-old doctors gave Sage Thomas life-altering news.

\"I was diagnosed with severe Aplastic Anemia, which is a bone marrow failure disease,\" said Thomas.

Her family was tested to see if they were a bone-marrow match.No one was, so she went on the bone marrow registry.

\"My bone marrow was so rare it was difficult to find a match,\" said Thomas.

Doctors tried something else.

\"They turned to ATG which is taken from horse blood. They give you that in hopes that your immune system will attack that instead of your bone marrow,\" said Thomas.

During that time, her parents decided to conceive another child in efforts to save Sage, if the ATG didn't work.

\"I know have a 9-year-old sister. Her name is Mira which is short for Miracle and her bone marrow is the same as mine,\" said Thomas

Luckily, Mira never had to undergo surgery.

\"At the time when she was born, my counts started becoming stable on their own,\" said Thomas.

Thomas hopes her story will encourage others to get tested and see if they are a match for someone else.

You can log onto Bethematch.org to find out how to donate.