Miracle Monday: Meet Stasha!

In January of 2016, 9 year old Stasha came home from school not feeling well.  Her parents figured she was getting a common cold, but when she woke up in severe pain that night, they took her to a local ER clinic, where she was then transferred to Freeman Health System and eventually to Children’s Mercy in Kansas City. By then, her platelets had reached over two million and she was diagnosed with pancreatitis. Stasha was eventually transferred to Denver Children’s Hospital, where she was diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia, a rare blood cancer.

Stasha started taking multiple medications and chemotherapy to help fight this disease. However, she started having other symptoms and began receiving specialized care in St. Louis and even New York City.  Since then, she has been diagnosed with Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), seizures and Factor V Leiden. IIH is caused by high pressure in the space between brain and the spinal cord. This almost took her vision.

Stasha is now 13 years old. She enjoys singing in her middle school’s choir and volunteering her time with rescue donkeys. She has a service dog, “Lucky,” who is able to recognize when she is starting to have problems and a therapy horse, Zoey, who is very special to her.   Lucky and Zoey are the two animals that will let Stasha escape the dark shadows of her illnesses. According to Stasha’s mom, she “always looks for the positive in everything. She is always smiling and has a crazy laugh that will make you laugh!”

Thanks to generous donations to your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, Stasha is able to travel to receive the specialty medical care she needs, whether it be close to home or states away.