A Warrenton family is asking for community support as their 12-year-old daughter undergoes a bone marrow transplant and family members have to spend up to five months living away from home near a hospital in St. Louis.

Aubrie Allen, a student a Black Hawk Middle School, is beginning treatment this week for a rare genetic disorder called adenosine deaminase 2 (ADA2) deficiency, family members said. The condition causes Aubrie to have a weak immune system and to experience internal inflammation, along with other health effects.

“Aubrie has struggled with health issues since she was a baby,” grandmother Tina Wideman told The Record. “She has been to countless doctors that ran a tremendous number of tests, but never really came up with any answers.”

In 2015, Aubrie began to experience moderate hearing loss and had her immune deficiencies confirmed, but it wasn’t until late 2019 that her parents, Becky and Tony Allen, were advised to seek genetic testing for their daughter.

“We didn’t know what the future looked like, and little did we know that genetic test would hold all our answers,” Becky stated. Soon after, in early 2020 the COVID pandemic hit, and that gave Becky the time off work to begin seeking the genetic testing for Aubrie. 

After several more months, they finally got a diagnosis in August 2020. The ADA2 deficiency diagnosis explained all of the symptoms young Aubrie had been experiencing.

It was the news they’d been waiting 11 years to hear.

“Moms never give up when you feel like something is not right. Even if it takes years!” Becky commented. But with the illness diagnosed, the family had to turn to treatment to prevent more severe conditions from developing.

“The most serious issues are heart attack, stroke and internal organ damage. Luckily Aubrie did not have any of these,” Becky said.

Late last year, Aubrie began taking medicine to reduce her inflammation, but family members said the only option for improving her immune system is a bone marrow transplant. This week, Aubrie begins treatment to kill her current immune system in order to allow the transplant, grandmother Tina Wideman said. Next week she’ll be admitted to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, and the week after she’ll receive the bone marrow transplant.

That will only be the beginning of a potentially long ordeal. Once Aubrie is released from up to five weeks of hospitalization, she must stay within 50 miles of the hospital in case she needs to come in for emergency treatment. That means she and her parents won’t be able to return home to Warrenton, and will instead have to stay at a Ronald McDonald House apartment for up to five months.

Her family is now asking community members if they would be willing to help with support for medical bills, transportation and expenses during their stay in St. Louis.

“It’s going to be a long road, but with faith, hope and love, Aubrie will rock this thing,” Wideman said.

Family members have set up an online GoFundMe fundraiser for contributions, located at this link: https://gofund.me/783af0bd

Donations to Aubrie’s family can also be mailed to P.O. Box 83, Warrenton, MO 63383.