My life today...

Yesterday, I got a phone call from the mother of a boy who was in Evan's 2nd grade class. They are originally from India and are a very nice family. She called me because her son wanted to invite Ev to a pool party today. Her son/Evan's friend is the middle child of 3 boys...he went to his birthday party earlier this year. Anyway, I got to the pool with him and Chana and took them swimming. She had at least 20 boys there total! She only had her and her sister there, who was visiting from Chicago, to chaperone! All I can say is what a BRAVE woman! Anyway, I took Chana in the pool in her new little baby float..the kind their legs fit through the holes and there's a canopy to block the sun...well, she LOVED it! She was kicking her legs like crazy and laughing and squeeling at all the boys. She thought she was just as big as them...it was totally ADORABLE! She also kept making sounds like a boy..."AHHHH, GRRRRR!! ahAHahaAHA!! grGRGRGGGGRRRRR!" SO FUNNY!

Well, I had a most interesting conversation with the mother. She said that in India and other 3rd world countries, like India, there is a common genetic bone marrow disorder that I believe she said is called Thalassemia. Anyway, if I'm right about the name or not, as I said, Evan's friend is her middle son of 3 boys. She told me her youngest is her "medical child." So, I inquired what that meant. She said that they used to live in Chicago and that when Ev's friend was a baby he was diagnosed with this bone marrow disorder, so she conceived their youngest son in order to use his stem cells to save his life. As a mother, that moved me to my core. I thought that was awesome. I realize how some folks feel about stem cell transplants, but I can tell you right now, if there was ANYTHING I could do to save my child's life, I would do it. So, she was telling me that their youngest is very spoiled because he saved their middle son's life. Simply beautiful. (-: