From Salt Lake City comes the touching story of a 5-year-old girl saved thanks to a bone marrow transplant from none other than her 2-year-old sister.
Emma Meline was diagnosed with an extremely rare bone disease after her mother Amanda brought her to the pediatrician with a rash and swelling on her leg.
Little Lucy, Emma’s younger sister, said she was going to be “brave” for her older sibling, during a mercifully short stay in the hospital for a bone marrow transplant that almost certainly saved Emma’s life.
Months on from the procedure, Emma dotes on Lucy as never before, a source of immense pride and bittersweetness for their mother Amanda.
“She’s realizing that Lucy saved her life and they have that bond,” she exclusively told People. “That’s so incredible.”
It was just 4 days before Christmas 2025 that Meline and her then-husband Jacob noticed the symptoms on Emma’s leg. The pediatrician didn’t like the look of it at all and ordered lab tests. The good news, he said, was that it wasn’t leukemia.
The bad news is that Emma had aplastic anemia, a rare disease whereby the bone marrow tissue ceases to make blood cells. The disease can range from mild to fatal, can develop at any age, and result from outside aggravations or manifest as an autoimmune disorder.
Sometimes it can be treated with medication, but in Emma’s case, she needed a bone marrow transplant. One of her twin younger sisters Lucy was determined to be a perfect genetic match whose bone marrow could be transplanted without worrying about rejection.
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It took 2 months for the operation to be scheduled, during which time Meline and Emma practically lived together at the hospital, as the girl was scared to be left alone. Lucy had to have rounds of blood work as well.
“[Lucy’s] favorite thing to say was, ‘I’m being brave for Emma,’ if she had to get blood work done,” Meline said. “And it was so tender.”
Shortly before the February 17th procedure, Emma had to undergo targeted chemotherapy to destroy her bone marrow tissue and make room for the transplant, which was a complete success, allowing mother and daughter to return home on March 11th for a gradual recovery.
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The child requires special sanitary precautions, as she is immunocompromised, but with no recurrence of the aplastic anemia 100 days after the operation, it has been considered a complete success.
“Honestly, it’s really crazy to see Emma’s mental fortitude,” says Meline, who added the ordeal has forced her daughter to grow up fast.
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