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Sadly, children from all walks of life are diagnosed every day with terrible, even life-threatening diseases and in many cases there is no cure. For some, life ends way too soon. For others, it is a never-ending ordeal. No matter what the outlook, life for these children and their families can be very difficult and often discouraging. Sometimes it seems like there is no hope, but that is just not the case. While the past few years have been difficult for our family, we are grateful it has not been a whole lot worse, and we refuse to give up hope.

Our daughter, Sydney, has an undiagnosed chronic blood condition that has caused her to be anemic for most of her short life and led to dozens of transfusions and several stays at the children's hospital in our area. All it took was one visit to that hospital and I realized early on that we are so not alone. My heart poured out to all these other kids and their families battling through very tough situations. I felt like there are probably families like this all over the world and I wanted to be able to connect with them some how.

I also came to realize there is a lot of focus, money and research going into studying cancer, and this is very much a good thing. But it often overshadows other diseases like Sydney's, and in our experience, we've seen that research into anemias and other blood conditions isn't nearly as widespread. It's been difficult so far to find someone or some place that will really take the time to study her illness.

So I wanted to come up with a way to connect with other people, and more importantly, raise awareness about Sydney's condition. She is now 5 years old and we are still no closer to a diagnosis for her illness. We've been a lot of places and talked to a lot of doctors but really haven't uncovered any answers. Never in a million years did we anticipate we would be dealing with a medical mystery, but it seems that is what we have at this point. It is our hope and prayer that someone in the medical research community will come across Sydney's story and be moved to really look into her illness and try to help her somehow — or at the very least, point us in the right direction.

If you or someone you love is dealing with a similar illness, or you are a medical professional with an interest in Sydney's case, please feel free to contact us. We would love to hear from you. That is what this site is all about.