In a world where so much is terrible or getting worse, it’s important to take time for a feel-good story every now and then. This one comes courtesy of 3-year-old Skye Savren-McCormick, known to her medical staff and parents as “Warrior Skye.” The tiny California native spent most of her earliest years fighting for her future, ever since taking ill at the age of four months.
Before her first birthday, Skye was diagnosed with a rare form of juvenile leukemia; she later developed lymphoma over her left eye. With just a 10 percent chance of survival, doctors advised her parents to prepare for the worst, but Skye and her parents weren’t having it.
"Some doctors said the chances of survival were not very good; it was going to be a lot of pain and suffering," Skye’s mother Talia Savren-McCormick said. "They said we should probably take her home and put her on palliative care and say, 'This is the end.'"
Instead, the little fighter was treated aggressively by the staff of UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, and after a whopping 77 blood and platelet transfusions, seven rounds of chemo, multiple stem cell transplants, and three bone marrow transplants, the toddler has now been cancer-free for more than a year.
Patient privacy laws mean most transfusion or transplant recipients don’t get to meet their donors, but Skye’s parents, Talia and Todd Savren-McCormick, have challenged that norm. In January, Skye got to meet two dozen of her blood and platelet donors at an emotional event held at UCLA.
“Each time Skye received a transfusion, it was like life had been breathed back into her,” Talia Savren-McCormick said. “You provided Skye with a powerful bridge toward health until she was strong enough to undergo treatment.”
Then, through bone marrow transplant agency Be the Match, Skye was able to connect with her very first bone marrow donor, Hayden Hatfield Ryals. Over time, Ryals and the Savren-McCormicks deepened their connection via texts, Facebook messages, and emails; when Skye celebrated the third birthday so many doctors insisted she’d never see, Ryals sent a birthday gift with a special request: would Skye be her flower girl?
The whole family trekked to Alabama for the celebration, and Ryals and Skye finally met and became instant friends.
At the wedding rehearsal, Skye and Ryals embraced for the very first time.
"I walked up and I just dropped to my knees and all I could do was smile," Ryals told ABC's World News Tonight.
Both Ryals and the Savren-McCormicks plan to keep their connection alive.
"They are going to be part of our lives forever," Savren-McCormick added. "She saved our daughter's life."
The Savren-McCormick family hopes their daughter’s survival story encourages others to donate blood, platelets, and bone marrow. As Skye’s mother told NBC’s Today, “It is something that does not take a lot of time. You have the power to save a life.”