ST. LOUIS -- Laila Anderson couldn't stop smiling.
The 11-year-old has hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a severe systemic inflammatory syndrome that can be fatal. Over the past four months, the only time she's left home is to go to the hospital for treatment. So to be sitting at Game 3 of the Western Conference Final between the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks at Enterprise Center was an incredible experience.
As she succinctly put it, being there was "everything."
Laila was diagnosed with HLH in October of 2018. Be the Match helped find her a donor and she had a bone marrow transplant in January. On Thursday she rang the bell at St. Louis Children's Hospital, signifying 100 days since her transplant.
A neighbor of the Andersons, who live in Des Peres, Missouri, about 15 miles west of St. Louis, offered Laila and her mother, Heather, two tickets for Game 3 in his suite. In a video posted on the Blues website, when Heather told Laila she was going to Game 3, Laila broke down in tears.
"I thought she was going to guess Chipotle; those are the simple things she's wanting," Heather said. "She's battled through a long 20 months of not great news and chemo and all of these things. To look at her and give her something that we thought was so out of reach after 20 months was the best gift I could've given her. It was probably one of the greatest moments of my life."
Laila was featured in a video that played on the board at 6:58 of the first period. She was given an ovation as cameras panned to her holding a sign that read, "I'm here boys… Let's Do This. Love Laila."