It has been one week since our last update. Friday the 13th was the last day Hillary took her immunosuppressant medicine. Ever.

Her blood levels rose on all three levels for the very first time. Ever.

Her hemoglobin rose to an all time high of 117. Her platelets to 145. Her neutrophils to 1.2.

We are now back in the watch-and-wait phase. We go back in two weeks for bloodwork at the lab again, then back two weeks later (mid-Dec) for more bloodwork and a meeting with a hematologist.

So far, so good.

Friday’s appointment went exceptionally well. Hills serendipitously got her favourite phlebotomist, Kevin, who she hasn’t seen since it all went down on the 5th floor of CHEO two years ago. His needles don’t hurt. He also HLA-typed our family in a rush to see if we were stem cell matches. Nope. Just three 6/10s.

A 10/10 match is considered the “cure” for Aplastic Anemia in the medical journals.

I want that 10/10 to be there for her.

Just before Hillsies’ appointment, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada sent out a call-to-action on Twitter. He heard the cry of little baby Boston in Winnipeg, and urged this great country to simply retweet his message to help Boston find a viable stem cell match.

What a gift. What a man. It’s just a simple tweet, pointed to a noble cause. 

We watched as 6,500 retweets circulated — Canadians ordering their #getswabbed kits and sharing their experiences. Canadian Blood Services responded to every single question, and comment. We engaged with as many as we could, and will forever return to thank more generous strangers for joining the Canadian stem cell registry.

We hugged. Celebrated. 

Friday was beautiful. Hills had a cute interview with CTV News’ Matt Skube just before dinner. We pumped ourselves up before going on so we could deliver a happy message of hope. 

We ate East Side Mario’s by candlelight with music. Made our own Shirley Temples. Left a mess. Watched Night at the Museum on our mattresses in the living room. Just the four of us. Just how we like it. 

Instead of doing her medicine routine at 8:00 pm, Hillary cut into THE most “profesh” bloody drip cake — something she has always wanted. The girls ceremoniously placed all of Hillary’s medicine and accessories in a cloth bag to be put away for keepsake. We couldn’t break the bottle like she wanted. We might need it again. We need to remember that.

Hillary’s back on CTV Morning Live on Monday morning, just before virtual school. 

I don’t know how she’ll be feeling. But today, she’s great.

There is something divine working here.

I truly believe that part of the divinity we are experiencing is because of the prayers and energy constantly being directed towards our family, by all of you.

This might work.
We might make it.

Please keep praying.

#StartWithHillary