Gia Danninger of Oconomowoc is a little fashionista. Her bedroom is littered with lipstick, lip gloss, and nail polish.
But life for the 5-year-old hasn't always been glitz and glam. This past July, her mom noticed Gia had some abnormal bruising and took her to the doctor.
"He's like, 'no, that's just- that looks like normal kid bruising, but I'll draw the blood and you're not going to hear from me.' And I was home less than 30 minutes and he called," said Gia's mom, Jenna.
Doctors determined Gia had Aplastic Anemia and needed a bone marrow transplant immediately. She matched with five people including a man in Germany.
"And this guy has to commit to all these lab probes to surgery. He has to undergo surgery. They had to drill into his hip I believe," said Gia's dad, Anthony.
As he went through the process of donating bone marrow Gia got ready for transplant day.
Jenna said, "She's like, 'you need to go home and put a dress on because this is a big day.'"
Anthony said Gia drew strength from a superhero character, "Her thing was that she was brave and strong just like Wonder Woman. She has Wonder Woman shirts."
After the transplant came a 57 day stay in the hospital with some of the best doctors and nurses in the MACC Fund Center. Jenna said, "For us, the MACC Fund Center, they saved our daughter."
The Danningers are now back home and their days include tasks like sorting medicine. But the fashion-forward 5-year-old has plenty of superhero strength to get her through each day.
You can support the fight against childhood cancer by tuning in to the TODAY'S TMJ4 Sports Auction 4 MACC. The live auction is from 3-5pm, Friday, December 15th. Athletes donate items, viewers bid on them, and the proceeds benefit the MACC Fund which supports research to cure childhood cancers and related blood disorders.
For more information visit maccfund.org.
