Medicine: Two Pints a Month

Helen Maysey was a sickly baby. She had a stubborn anemia that did not respond to treatment with iron and vitamins. By the time she was three, doctors found her spleen enlarged, decided that this versatile organ, which both makes and destroys blood cells, was overdoing the destructive part of its job. Surgeons took out her spleen. That gave only temporary relief, and Helen had to have repeated transfusions to keep her stock of red blood cells anywhere near normal. When she was ten, doctors figured that Helen had about two months to live. That...

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