Rally for Rowen: A Transplant to Save Her Life
Story
Our daughter, Rowen, as some of you may know, is currently sick and waiting for a bone marrow transplant. She’s a loving, silly 4-year-old social butterfly.
In January 2025, Rowen became ill with the Influenza A virus. She had to be hospitalized due to pancytopenia (all of her blood cell lines were critically low). She received some transfusions, and initially, the hospital hematologist thought this was temporary and caused by the influenza virus and it would return to normal after some time.
Time went on, and unfortunately, her blood counts were not returning to normal even though she was no longer sick with the virus.
In April 2025, her oncologist decided it was time to try IV immunoglobulin therapy to see if she would respond, and if not, she would need a bone marrow biopsy. She did not respond to the IV IG and ended up getting a bone marrow biopsy done the very next day.
She was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia, with her biopsy results showing her bone marrow cellularity at < 5% (children her age should have a cellularity of 80-90%). This is also called "bone marrow failure". We were sent to UCSF Medical, 2.5 hours away, to meet her bone marrow transplant team. Right now, we're anticipating news from UCSF for any potential donors. She goes to the hospital weekly for lab draws and blood transfusions, and she is to stay away from crowds and gatherings to lower the risk of becoming sick, as this can be fatal for her. As soon as matched donors are found, she will be admitted to UCSF where she will receive chemotherapy and radiation therapy before undergoing a bone marrow transplant. Then, our whole family will be displaced from our home to UCSF for 3-6 months. We did not anticipate all of this to happen, not to us, and especially not to our little girl. Along with this rare blood disorder, Rowen was also diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in July 2023, making this her second autoimmune life-threatening disorder. Her oncologist at UCSF made it transparent that the transplant itself will cost 30,000. We are asking for help from you while we disperse our savings to help offset costs to go through this phase of our lives and help financially prepare for when the transplant occurs. Any amount will help. Even if you don't donate, spreading the word will also help! *Updated for Transparency* We wanted to let everybody know that we're also accepting donations via Venmo (@rltomas) other than GoFundMe. Organizers : Co-organized Rhea Tomas and Lyle Tomas are organizing this fundraiser.