Immune Thrombocytopenia purpura...or so a special friend of mine was just diagnosed with. It hurts me because she is a couple thousand kilometres away, and so there is little I can do. Basically, what this disease does is drastically reduce the number of platelets that can work in her blood. A normal count is between 150,000 and 450,000...hers was at 3000. Readers of my blog may remember that I've asked for prayers a little girl with diabetes. Well, this is her mother. Given that these are both auto-immune diseases, my scientific brain thinks that there must be a genetic link. But, my heart cries out because I wish I could be there, and that I wish I could take away the pain. All I can do is pray, offer support online, and send her a prayer shawl as soon as I can. My main prayers for her right now is for her platelet count to stabilize soon so she can be released from the hospital soon (maybe by the weekend) and get back to her adorable little girl, and two, for her disease to go into remission and STAY in remission for the rest of her life, which will hopefully be at least 60 more years!