Help sought to cover family's funeral expenses for Juneau toddler
After a two-year battle for the life of her daughter, Linda Wilson is now struggling with the costs of her daughter's funeral.
Juneau toddler Victoria Wilson died Oct. 21 of graft versus host disease, a result of complications in a bone marrow transplant she received at the end of August.
The transplant was to treat a form of leukemia that resulted from treatment for aplastic anemia, which affected the child since she was 1 year old. Aplastic anemia is a life-threatening condition in which a person's bone marrow greatly reduces or stops the production of blood cells.
"It was a fairly good match and she tolerated the transplant fairly well," said Dr. Amy Dressel, who treated Wilson since she was diagnosed. In time, though, her body eventually started to recognize its own cells as foreign and began destroying the inner lining of her mouth and stomach.
Doctors at Children's Hospital in Seattle tried several drugs, including an experimental one, to stop Victoria's body from attacking its own cells. The drugs were able to slow down but not reverse the process, Dressel said.
"She got to the point where she couldn't handle it anymore," Dressel said. "She was just a wonderful, wonderful child, and a brave soul."
Victoria was featured in a Juneau Empire story that ran in April of this year.
The cost of Victoria's treatment and transportation to and from Seattle was covered by the Denali Kid Care program. REACH, a local nonprofit that coordinated Victoria's care, paid for some family visits from Juneau to Seattle, Dressel said.
Friends and family of Victoria have set up a fund with Alaska Pacific Bank to help cover the cost of funeral expenses for the family.