In September 2022, 6-year-old Sophie Cromer started having bruising on her body, dark circles under her eyes, and her parents noticed that she would get worn out quickly.
“We thought her bruises were just from her being clumsy, but then we found a grapefruit-size bruise on her hip, and she could not tell us how it happened,” Candace Cromer, Sophie’s mom, said. “For a bruise this large to be normal, she would have had to hit something pretty hard.”
The Cromers took Sophie to see her pediatrician who ran bloodwork then advised them to take her to Children’s of Alabama immediately. “We are so fortunate to live within 30 minutes of such a great hospital,” Candace said. “We have crossed paths with so many families who have had to travel hours to receive the care we did.”
Sophie spent the weekend at Children’s waiting on labs and imaging to come back. She was released a few days later after being told it was not leukemia. A few weeks later, doctors diagnosed her with aplastic anemia, a condition in which the bone marrow does not produce an adequate number of new blood cells. It causes tiredness, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, unexplained bruising, nose bleeds, headaches and fever.
Hoping that Sophie could receive a bone marrow transplant, the Cromers took their oldest daughter to see if she was a match and could be Sophie’s donor. She was not. “We were heartbroken. We knew we could try immunotherapy but there was a high chance of relapse,” Candace said. “We didn’t want a band aid, we wanted a cure. So we began to research non-related bone marrow transplantation. After a lot of prayer and research, we decided that was the route we wanted to go.”
Sophie’s care was transferred to the Children’s of Alabama Blood and Marrow Transplantation Clinic, under the care of Dr. Hilary Haines and Dr. Sheetal Phadnis. From September 2022 to January 2023, she received blood and platelet transfusions. Then, the family got the news that a perfect match had been found on the National Marrow Donor Program registry. It was an answer to their prayers.
“Finding a match for Sophie meant she could have her childhood back,” Candace said. “She could be cured from this awful disease that she had and go back to school, go to trampoline parks, ride her bike and all of the things she had been missing out on.”
After going through chemotherapy, immunosuppressive therapy and one round of radiation to wipe out her bone marrow, Sophie had her transplant on January 20, 2023, just eight days after her seventh birthday. The whole process was difficult for Sophie and her family. Candace says the preparation was “one of the most difficult times throughout her journey.” While she was in the hospital, she was not able to have visitors under the age of 12, so her three siblings were unable to visit her.
“Six weeks was a very long time for a young, social child to be confined to a hospital room,” Candace said. “Fortunately, with time and a great child life specialist, Lindsey Smith, it got better, and she was soon running the halls of Children’s. She also had lots of supporters that sent her mail daily. We got calls from the front desk every single day saying she had mail to be picked up. We are so thankful for all of those people.”
Though Sophie was sad to spend her birthday in the hospital, the staff made it as festive as possible. “Her nurses snuck into her room while she was sleeping and put up decorations. She was so surprised when she woke up,” Candace said. “The staff came by with streamers and sang to her. We had cake, and she had lots of gifts come in the mail. It will be a birthday that she remembers forever.”
Children’s also provided Sophie with educational assistance. When she was discharged from the hospital the first time in September 2022, she was unable to attend school in person, so the Sunshine School at Children’s of Alabama reached out to her school to help set her up for school at home. She finished first grade at home and in the hospital.
While Sophie was homebound, she developed an interest in painting, and Candace attributes that to Valerie Hanks, an art therapist who came to Children’s when Sophie was an inpatient and brought canvases for the kids to paint. “She fell in love with painting that day, and has loved it ever since,” Candace said. Now, Sophie wants to be an art teacher when she grows up.
Sophie’s transplant was successful, and her bone marrow is functioning properly. Dr. Haines has told the family that she should be able to live a long, happy life. She returned to school in person for second grade in August 2023 and came off of her last medication in June 2024. She now visits Children’s for clinic appointments only once every four months.
Sophie looks forward to her clinic visits so she can see her favorite doctors, nurses and staff, who have become like family to the Cromers, Candace said, adding that they loved every single person on the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Unit. She said Dr. Haines and her staff were wonderful throughout the whole process. “They listened to us and supported us every step of the way,” Candace said. “We never felt like they pushed a course of treatment on us. They were patient with Sophie on days when she just did not want to get blood drawn. They tried to make her comfortable, and they were kind to her.
“I trusted them 100% with my child’s life,” Candace added. “Children’s always went the extra mile for us.”
Later this year, Sophie will have the opportunity to meet her bone marrow donor during an event at Children’s. She has already spoken with the donor on FaceTime and through text messages. “We are so thankful for her donor and have been waiting for the day we get to meet her since January 2023,” Candace said. “She was the answer to many, many prayers, and there is no way to express how thankful we are for her gift to Sophie.”
