Excerpt:

December 27, 2009

In September, 4-year-old Maya Chamberlin was diagnosed with a rare blood disease known as HLH. Her chances of survival depend on finding a suitable bone marrow donor.

But the Chamberlin family's search for a match is more difficult because Maya is of mixed race.

The little girl is receiving treatment for her illness in Cincinnati with her mother by her side, while her father takes care of her little brother at home in California.

Maya's mother, Dr. Mina Chamberlin, says her daughter's illness, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, affects the immune system.

"There are two components when you're fighting an infection," Chamberlin tells NPR's Liane Hansen. "One is turning it on in order to get rid of the virus. Component two is turning it off. And with HLH, the problem lies in turning it off. So what happens is the cells that are responsible for getting rid of the virus now start destroying [your] own cells in your body. So it's chewing up platelets and red blood cells and white blood cells."

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