ABOUT US
WE ARE A FAMILY OF 5 ADVOCATING FOR THE SMALLEST OF US, DOTTY JAMES
During our 2 week NICU stay in July 2022, Dotty was diagnosed with SCID, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. Meaning, she has next to no immune system to ward off even the smallest virus. Patients with this diagnosis have a life expectancy of less than two years. However, there is a cure! A bone marrow transplant can completely correct the SCID and give Dotty a chance at a longer life!
Lab work concluded our older two children, Ruby (6) and Indy (3), were not possible donor matches. We then looked to the NMDP (formerly Be The Match) to a non-relative donor. Unfortunately, she was not a match with anyone in the system either.
At that point, we started our mission! Dotty went into isolation in her nursery, and we began sharing her story and need for a bone marrow donor match in order to live. People started watching our Instagram and TikTok videos and ordered swab kits to join the registry! After more than a year of praying, advocating, and searching for a donor we met with the transplant doctor who told us there were multiple possible matches for our Dotty!
On March 6th 2024, the transplant team called to let us know they have found Dotty's best available match! We were admitted to start the process mid-May 2024! This had been over 544 days of waiting for her match! It's a miracle!
Dotty received her lifesaving bone marrow transplant on June 7, 2024 from an unknown donor in Germany! We are forever grateful for that person's act of kindness and pray we get to personally thank them one day. Since then Dotty has surpassed the drs expectations of the transplant succeeding and chemo side affects on her little body! She actually gained strength and weight during transplant.
She was discharged from the transplant wing early July where we finished out her care at the Dallas Ronald McDonald House. What was supposed to be a 100 day stay turned out to be less than 80 because she was doing so well! We returned to OKC mid August and have lived our mask free lives ever since. Meeting family and friends now face to face! Experiencing holidays together as a family of a 5!
At Dotty's one year post transplant appointment in June of 2025, the Drs confirmed that the transplant was successful and she was CURED of her SCID diagnosis! Now she gets to celebrate her third birthday on July 26th. A birthday we were told she most likely would never make it to. She is our miracle baby girl and God has held our hands throughout this journey!
All proceeds of Dotty James Merch go to help our single income family as we continue to navigate a medical family's world. Dotty now has the opportunity to have more intensive therapies (occupational, physical, speech), attend school, learn how to eat by mouth again, and so much more! We appreciate every order and consider you all Dotty's Donors!
Sincerely, The Erways
Click the link below to follow our journey on instagram: