By Anne Bonifacio
Courier Staff Writer
At the beginning of the school year, Lamonna Drinkard, a junior here at James Logan High School, had to go on independent studies due to her diagnosis of aplastic anemia. Lamonna was out of school for a good amount of time because she needed a bone marrow transplant.
Aplastic anemia is a condition in which the bone marrow does not make enough new blood cells. “When I first heard the news that I had aplastic anemia, I actually had no reaction at all,” Lamonna expresses, “The doctors actually thought that I was in shock or something. It took awhile to process. It didn’t feel real until I was actually at the hospital.”
Lamonna was a part of the track and field team, and being diagnosed with aplastic anemia led her to question her ability to continue to run for the team. Lamonna was the track and field’s women varsity team leader.
Although Lamonna had a tough battle to fight, she had many supporters by her side. “The biggest supporters I had to keep me to stay positive was my mother who was right by my side through everything,” she informed The Courier, “my two best friends, Denise and Malissa. And the Track and Field team, who always believed in me.”
There were many efforts to help Lamonna in all ways possible. There was fundraiser held at Quarry Lakes in hope to help with the cost of the bone marrow transplant. On top of the fundraiser at Quarry Lakes, Lamonna’s family set up a donation page on the website gofundme.com. The goal was to reach $10,000 worth of donations. The result was about $9,925, only $75 away from their goal.
Everyone is happy to see Lamonna back at school and going strong. “It feels great to be back at school. I never thought I would say it, but I really did miss going to school,” Lamonna admitted, “After staying home for four straight months, it’s easy to appreciate the social setting our school provides.”
This journey has been hard on Lamonna, but she has learned a lot from it. “I learned to have more patience,” Lamonna added. “I also learned our lives are a lot more fragile than we think.” Lamonna says that she will start to appreciate every single day more often, because we’ll never know what tomorrow will be like.
