Mom navigates son’s ITP with prayer, hope, and medical care
Kaleb loves to play outdoors. His mom Jerhonda hopes he can grow up to play whatever sport he wants.
When Jerhonda Walton learned her 8-month-old son, Kaleb, had a rare blood disorder called immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), the diagnosis answered her questions about why he was so sick.
But now she had more questions.
What was ITP? How would it affect Kaleb’s life from now on? Would he get better?
Jerhonda also wondered how Kaleb’s diagnosis would affect her life. It was now filled with taking her son to medical appointments. She was absent from work so often that she lost her job.
ITP has many unknowns
ITP is an unpredictable blood disorder.
It happens when the body’s immune system kills platelets in the blood. Platelets help blood to clot. ITP usually happens suddenly and goes away after a few weeks or months.
But some cases last longer. These cases are chronic ITP. Sometimes chronic ITP gets better on its own. Other times, people live with the disease for the rest of their lives. In rare cases, people can die from the disease.
The diagnosis, its uncertainty, and the life changes were a lot to handle. Jerhonda relied on her strong faith to get her through the tough times.
“My advice is to stay strong and pray, pray, pray,” she says. “Pray your way through things.”
Kaleb’s diagnosis
Jerhonda has prayed ever since Kaleb first started to show symptoms when he was an infant. She knew something was wrong with him when his skin started to look purple. Skin can turn purple in ITP patients because of bleeding under the skin.
Kaleb had other symptoms too.
“He stopped taking his bottle and got a really bad fever,” Jerhonda says.
She took Kaleb to the hospital. Blood tests showed his platelet count was low. Kaleb stayed in the hospital for 7 days.
ITP does not have a cure. But symptoms can be treated with medication. Kaleb takes a medicine called romiplastim. It helps his body make more platelets.
Kaleb’s life today
Today, Kaleb is a rambunctious 3-year-old who loves sliding down the slide at the playground and playing in the mud. He likes to eat pepperoni pizza and play basketball. He loves asking questions. His favorite is, “What’s your name?”
Jerhonda has a new job, and her coworkers support her. When applying for the position, she told them that she would need time off to take Kaleb to the doctor for checkups.
Kaleb’s care team may try to wean Kaleb off his medication to see if his body will make platelets on its own, Jerhonda says.
She hopes that happens. She prays Kaleb can grow up and play whatever sport he wants without worrying about bleeding.
“Don't give up and just keep going,” Jerhonda says. “And pray. God will work it out.”
