For Bethany, how true this is. When she gets a transfusion, she feels better, somewhat normal. But her blood is dying, especially her red blood cells, which are being consumed and not being replaced.
The red blood cells, the hemoglobin, carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. The oxygen burns nutrients for energy, and the resulting waste products are then collected by the hemoglobin to be released from the body. All of us live by that process.
For Bethany, the other blood levels fluctuate – as you can see in the chart nearby – but her red blood cells just simply fall and fall and fall. At only one point did the hemoglobin number rise (see this previous chart – and there it may simply have been an anomaly, within the margin of error).
This is insidious. When her blood suffers, every cell in her body suffers.
