SYDNEY -- After spending months in a Toronto hospital following a bone-marrow transplant, Ella MacPherson has finally returned home to Cape Breton.
Ella’s journey started on April 2, when she fell and broke her femur. While treating the injury, doctors discovered that she had a rare genetic disease called osteopetrosis.
The days and months that followed were filled with treatments, chemotherapy, and many sleepless nights, as the 11-month-old girl waited for a bone-marrow transplant in Toronto.
“I took it as taking it day by day, every day you do the next day, you just think about what you have to do, and hopefully get to the end and it’s not too bad,” says Ella’s mother, Jennifer MacPherson.
Ella received her transplant in July and has responded well so far.
“If she didn’t break her leg we were told that this would have taken a lot longer to solve, and the outcome may have been drastically different,” says her father, Ryan MacPherson.
“You never want to see your child hurt, but the fact that she broke her leg might have been a blessing along the way.”
Ella’s story -- and smile -- has captured the hearts of many Cape Bretoners, and her family says the support they have received from both friends and strangers has given them the strength they need to carry on.
“This day is great, and one day she will get to her first day of school, and then be 18 and be able to vote in the election,” says Jennifer.
Ella will continue to receive treatments at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney and will visit the IWK Health Centre in Halifax every two weeks.
While there’s still a long road ahead for the girl and her family, Jennifer says they are just happy to be together after spending months apart.
“You just end up being really grateful that you’re home and everybody is back together."
