An Orphaned Anemia

This book chronicles the process of creating a documentary that shares the story of Derek Free and other patients with Diamond Blackfan Anemia. DBA is considered an orphan disease one that affects so few people that it is not profitable to pharmaceutical companies and therefore does not justify research. Until recently not enough people had the disease to justify governmental aid. A transformation towards hope reveals a disease that is defying odds and treading new ground for the possibility of a cure. The small documentary interviews Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Beth Whitehouse (author of The Match: Savior Siblings and One Families Battle to Heal Their Daughter the story of the Trebing family) Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy Dr. David Bodine from the National Institutes of Health Drs. Jeffrey Lipton and Adrianna Vlachos from Cohen Children's Hospital the Diamond Blackfan Anemia Foundation's founder Dawn Baumgardner and Marie Arturi founder of the Daniella Maria Arturi Foundation.