Bone marrow transplants saved Lauren Engleke-Smith’s two young sons, but the mother’s bone marrow transplant wasn’t enough to stop the raging leukemia in her own body.
One bone marrow transplant is brutal for a family, but three seems untenable. Yet, Lauren radiated unending hope and faith until the very end.
Lauren, 46, of Springfield, died Sept. 16 after three years with acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive cancer that attacks blood cells. Lauren’s treatment included several rounds of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and a trial drug. Lauren said in her chapter of the book, Embracing the Impact of Cancer: Inspirational Stories of Hope, that she knew what to expect in the treatment. They had been through it before.
Lauren’s son, Gabriel, was born with a rare form of anemia that required a bone marrow transplant when he was 18 months old.
Gabriel’s transplant in October 2013, as well as Lauren’s in December 2021 and son Xavier’s in July 2023 required months of driving to St. Louis hospitals and long stays at the Ronald McDonald House before and after the transplants.
Gabriel is 12 now and a seventh-grader at Ball-Chatham schools. He has been in remission since the transplant and has no residual problems.
Lauren was hopeful that her recovery would be as smooth as Gabriel’s, so she said she didn’t worry about the transplant. “However, my team did not tell me all the effects of the transplant before and after,” she wrote in the book. Lauren suffered many complications: infections, rashes, headaches, stomach issues and more.
Lauren credited her husband, Aaron, a computer analyst for the state of Illinois, for supporting her and keeping the family going. “He takes care of all of us,” she said.
No matter what, Lauren was determined to keep working. Her family’s financial health depended on it. Six months before her diagnosis, the family bought their dream house near Lake Springfield. They were so happy to be out of their first house in a Springfield neighborhood where bikes were stolen from the front porch and the boys were bullied.
Lauren was finally working as a special education teacher, as she planned before moving to Springfield from Annapolis, Maryland. Lauren grew up near Annapolis on a small farm where her family raised kangaroos. Aaron was at the naval base when they met. In 2006, they decided to move to Springfield to be closer to Aaron’s family in southern Illinois.
Lauren graduated from Wesley College in Dover, Maryland, but needed classes to be certified to teach in Illinois. She earned a master’s degree in education from University of Illinois Springfield and was certified to be a school principal.
She taught special education at Ball-Chatham and Springfield schools. She also was an assistant principal in Beardstown. By fall 2021, she was getting chemotherapy and too sick to work, and she had the bone marrow transplant in December. She returned to work in Chatham in 2022 and in 2023 accepted a position teaching at the Sangamon County Juvenile Detention Center in Springfield. “That job was made for me,” she said.
It lasted less than two months. On Sept. 30, 2023, a student was shot and killed while attempting to escape. The center has been closed since then. Lauren worked as a substitute teacher for the remainder of the school year, even when in April, the leukemia returned, and Lauren started chemotherapy again. Despite feeling bad, she continued to work until the end of the school year.
Her dedication didn’t go unnoticed. Kris White, whose grandson was one of Lauren’s students in Springfield, said he graduated from college because of Lauren’s encouragement. White said on Lauren’s obituary on the Dignity Memorial website: “She was a bright light, a warm candle, a caring individual, and always looking for the best in her students.”
In July 2023, Lauren was at Barnes-Jewish Hospital for leukemia-related pneumonia when Aaron and their son, Xavier, 14, prepared for Xavier’s bone marrow transplant across the street at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
While Gabriel’ anemia was obvious when he was born, Xavier developed symptoms after the age of 10. Bone marrow is the common denominator between Lauren and the boys’ illnesses, but each are different. Xavier’s life-threatening bone marrow failure was painful for Lauren to watch, especially because Xavier also struggled with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Lauren also worried about how the family’s illnesses affected her daughter, Ebby, who is a freshman at UIS and wants to become a veterinarian. Medical expenses wiped out any money for college.
Despite the challenges, Lauren chose to remain busy, positive and grateful. She posted updates on Facebook every day until early September when she could no longer see.
Lauren looked for hope and God’s direction. In the book, Lauren told readers: “Whether it’s aplastic anemia, bone marrow failure or leukemia like our family has dealt with or you are just having a bad day, promise me that you will stay positive and look for God in every step.”
Theresa Olsen met Lauren a few years before her son, Gabriel, was born in 2012. Their friendship began at a Bible study at Hope Church in Springfield.
Contributions to the Lauren Engelke-Smith Memorial for the education of her children may be directed to United Community Bank, 700 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, IL 62703.
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