JJ is five years old and was diagnosed with ITP in June 2019 at just 3 years old. In the short two years since diagnosis, he’s endured over 110 “pokes,” has been on oral and IV steroids, had 14 IVIG infusions (thanks to generous donors), WinRho® infusions, and six emergent hospital says. He is now classified as having chronic ITP.

JJ’s life changed the moment he was diagnosed with ITP as he spent two years of his childhood in and out of the hospital or at home recovering from medication side effects. In between treatments, life at home was anything but normal as symptoms from the disease and safety interventions took priority over typical childhood experiences. While his journey has been hard, scary, and emotional, JJ has remained resilient, strong, brave, and courageous. Despite the rollercoaster of his ITP diagnosis, he has grown from his experiences in unimaginable ways. JJ’s mother explains that he “has developed close and irreplaceable relationships with people we have met through the hospital, has learned more socialization skills, kindness for others, and he has shown how fearless he is by tackling life and obstacles head on. He’s remarkably resilient and despite the difficult times, remains so positive and full of life. He’s been such an inspiration for everyone around him through it all.”

“We are very lucky to say his body has stopped destroying his platelets (as quickly) since his last IVIG treatment in March 2020. We were able to stop medication/infusion treatments at that time, and since then have watched his platelets and symptoms slowly improve, finally coming up to normal numbers over the last couple of months. If things continue this this way, we will be getting close to remission, hopefully by the spring of 2022. Though we understand the ITP journey is unpredictable, we do pray every day that he reaches remission without any bumps in the road. In the meantime, JJ has started Kindergarten, joined sports, and is living childhood as he has always wished. We couldn’t have gone through this journey without the tremendous support from family and friends, everyone at our clinic and those we’ve met through the hospital, and without the support of the PDSA.”

Those interested can follow JJ’s Journey at www.facebook.com/fightwithJJ