Anthony Collier and Rebekah Moore

06 Oct Anthony’s Long Road to Recovery

Posted at 17:35h in All Blog Posts, Around the House, Our Families by

Kids like Anthony need you and Atlanta RMHC now more than ever. Despite COVID, kids are receiving life-saving treatments.

For Rebekah Moore and her grandson, Anthony Collier, 8, day by day and hour by hour, is how they approach his bone marrow transplant and treatment for sickle cell anemia. They have been in our care for 83 nights, first in a hotel for 32 nights before transitioning to the Ronald McDonald House near Egleston.

“Coming to the House totally changed how Anthony was doing. He was so over being at the hospital and his treatments,” Rebekah says. “The little boy in him is coming back since we moved into the transplant suites.”

“The first week we got here, Anthony saw a sign in the elevator for a bicycle raffle,” Rebekah says. “We entered and he won. He was so happy.”

Anthony and our MuralBeing at the hotel and now the House, ensures that Rebekah can prepare Anthony’s strict diet. “Everything has to be at a certain temperature. We could not have been released from the hospital without Atlanta RMHC.”

In August 2019, Anthony and his grandmother, packed up from El Paso, Texas, to drive 1,600 miles for his bone marrow transplant from his biological mother. First, he had to undergo chemotherapy and radiation to prepare for it. Rebekah stayed with Anthony in his hospital room until they were discharged to stay with Atlanta RMHC.

“This House is the biggest blessing,” Rebekah says. “I don’t know that we could have done his treatment without it. This House literally feels like home. The safety precautions are so good that COVID is not even on my radar.”

Rebekah said her favorite thing is sleeping in a comfortable bed after six months of sleeping in a recliner. “I love being able to go outside and take a walk when Anthony is up to it. We could not do this at the hotel.

“I didn’t think we would be in Atlanta this long,” Rebekah says, adding that Anthony is being treated to prevent his body from attacking the bone marrow transplant. “The staff is amazing and willing to find anything we need or that might help or brighten Anthony’s day.”