I met this sweet family during our time on 5200 (the pediatric bone marrow transplant unit at Duke). Maggie had a transplant just a few days after Søren and our rooms were right next to each other. We were fighting for our children’s lives with just a thin divider separating our experiences.

Maggie has MPS or Hurler’s Syndrome, a debilitating genetic disorder. Maggie’s mother, Tracey, is an Oncologist at UNC, and has done a lot of incredible work to get this rare genetic disease a part of newborn screening. If Maggie had been screened at birth, she could have had her transplant sooner. In that critical year prior to her diagnosis, she developed hearing loss, eye issues, worsening spine issues- all which complicated her transplant. And while Maggie’s transplant was successful, the transplant doesn’t cure MPS, is simply slows the disease down.

It was such a joy to be reunited with this family outside the walls of a hospital, and to help them celebrate their newest addition to their family.

You can see more about this family’s story here.