A Hudsonville girl was born with no immune system, has had a rare transplant and now she is 2-years-old and making history!

According to WOOD, Jada Elenbaas became the first child in Michigan to have a thymus transplant and survive.

Not having an immune system makes it so that if just a few germs would reach Jada, it could become deadly. The family could have no visitors, not even family.

Since Jada had no way to fight off sickness anything that would come into the house has to be wiped down from groceries to anything that was carried in the front door.

Jada could not produce T-cells therefore didn't have an immune system to fight back against germs.

A thymus transplant is a procedure that is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration so the Elenbaas family really needed to get some help.

The operation out of pocket costs $900,000 and insurance companies did not want to touch this but that is where Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital in Grand Rapids really help out.

Jada's mom, Amanda Elenbaas said, "We're very lucky to have Helen DeVos to close."

Since having the operation, Jada's body recently started producing T-cells for the first time since she was born. Her immune system is still fragile and the family still has to go to extreme lengths to protect her from germs.

Jada's dad, Michael Elenbaas has to leave his coat and other items in the garage. The uses hand sanitizer before getting inside the house, takes a shower and disinfects his phone and glasses before he does anything inside the home.

The good news is, Jada keeps showing progress and someday she will be able to take on the world and be able to handle infections all on her own.

 

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