A Sense of Purpose

Throughout our entire lives, both young and old, we are constantly searching for a purpose. Some days are brighter than others. Some days you can hardly see the light. No matter how big or small your troubles are, you are always searching for something new in life. I used to find myself searching for the reason our family has been plagued with loss and heartache, but over the past year I have become connected with some of the most amazing people around the world.

9 years and 10 months - the time i knew Eric before he was diagnosed with HLH. In that 9 years I searched to find myself, my career, my future goals and dreams. All of it was ripped out of my hands the day the nurse told me she was making my 27 year old husband 'comfortable'. 90 days later he was blessed with a second chance at life. 

We are one of few who can say this. Many never make it home. Their families are left searching for the reason, searching for their purpose in life after losing a child, parent, spouse, relative or friend to HLH. Today I had connected with some HLH family-friends I hadn't spoken to recently because of how fast paced life became in the last few weeks. 

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I had just a short bit to gather some items for our next blog post only to find ANOTHER adult, a beautiful young girl from Australia had lost her life to HLH last week. My heart breaks for her family. Our HLH family is one of the most amazing groups of people I have ever met. We may all have our own quirks, religious beliefs and life styles, but the one thing we all have in common is the connection to that disease no one can say once, let alone 5 times fast. 

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hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis

For this reason alone, we have decided to keep the Histiocytosis Awareness blog running all year long so that each person we meet has the opportunity to share their loved ones journey with HLH with their family and friends online and to help each other along the way as we all join together for the purpose of funding a cure for HLH and most importantly to keep others from losing their lives to a disease so cruel the word cancer can't describe. 

This past week i shared a link on our Facebook page that i'm now sharing here as well and I have reached out to the physicians for comment also. This blog article called the HLH The Great Whale of Hematology by Dr. Michael Scott. In his article he writes "However, there is a body of opinion that considers the adult, or secondary, form of HLH to be the far end of the hyperimmune spectrum, essentially only separated from sepsis and DIC by a degree of severity." he goes to to speak about the diagnosis or lack there of - of HLH. 
I would continue on, but may find myself regurgitating information from the article. It is so uncomfortably enlightening to know that he and other physicians we know who were not previously emersed in the HLH world are more aware of this disease and recognize the appalling rates of over 50% of a group of 107 consecutive autopsies in a study of patients who died from sepsis showed hemophagycytosis in their bone marrow. HLH is NOT rare, it is RARELY diagnosed.

HLH Awareness is just one of my many purposes.