The Baxter Family – Follow Up Story

Follow Up To The Baxter Family Story

Read their full story here…

Emma Baxter was diagnosed with Severe Congenital Neutropenia when she was just four years old and received a bone-marrow transplant from her three-year-old sister, Paisley in May of 2019 at Penn State Children’s Hospital.

“For patients receiving bone-marrow, there are negative days (chemo and conditioning) and day zero is transplant day,” Amanda, Emma’s mom, said. “After transplant day, you have positive days, and that is when we checked into the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in Hershey as you’re required to stay nearby for 100 positive days.”

RMH offers an efficiency suite complete with a kitchenette and expanded living space for families like the Baxters, whose children are given specific requirements by their doctors following their bone-marrow transplant due to weakened immune systems. After spending 265 days at the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey, the Baxter family returned home to Hanover, PA on Valentine’s Day.

“The resources at the Ronald McDonald House helped us to not worry about having a safe place to stay for 10 months,” Amanda said. “They provided us meals every night, activities and a calming atmosphere to decompress from the hospital.”

Emma is doing well and her medical team is expecting her platelets to increase over the next few months.

“Emma will still be in isolation for the next few months because of her immunosuppressant, but we are looking forward to being home so that we can be together as a family again in our own environment,” Amanda said.

At Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central PA, we believe that families are stronger when they are together. Help us keep more families like the Baxters together, at no charge to them, by donating today!

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