Nick Prychitko had never heard of idiopathic aplastic anemia until he was diagnosed with it last year.

“Early last April, I started to notice a few symptoms — among other things, I was just feeling exhausted all the time,” the 21-year-old said. “I ended up going in to get checked for bloodwork — turns out my blood cell counts were seriously low.” So low in fact, that he ended up at Health Sciences Centre later that day.

Nick had a bone marrow biopsy to determine the problem and was told he had a serious blood disorder. He was kept in the hospital for the next two months.

“I think in my case, it was almost a good thing that I hadn’t heard of it because I wasn’t able to fully understand how serious it was …  I had no idea what the cause or what the symptoms even were,” he said.

After being diagnosed, it was clear immediate action was needed. Nick had to find a bone marrow donor — and luckily, his sister Tasha was a match.

“I remember getting the call from the donor coordinator, Judy, at 8 a.m. so it kind of woke me up — I wasn’t really expecting it that day,” Tasha said. “We had done some bloodwork on myself and my sister to see who would be the best match, or if there was a match.”

“I got this call and I was so happy … it was amazing, the feeling of getting to make those phone calls to my family and my brother saying that I was a perfect match for him.”

Just a few weeks after learning her bone marrow was compatible with Nick’s, Tasha went in for surgery.

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