You have to see this picture. It’s Samantha Washko, the little 5-year-old who inspired 600 people to attend Rowan County’s largest ever bone marrow drive last August at Sacred Heart Catholic Church and other people to keep on sending John Zerger money to sponsor his run on her behalf even though he ran 105 miles over 24 hours early in October.

And that’s why her aunt, Cathy LaMarre of Boone, wrote an e-mail to Salisbury and Rowan County to thank people here “for helping my family believe in miracles.”

Normally, that would be a letter to the editor.

But letters to the editor don’t have pictures, and how could we hold this one back?

So many people have kept up with Samantha’s condition through the Web site Cathy updates every day and have done so many things that the family feels “it’s important to let people know where we are,” she says.

On Wednesday, the family — Sam, her parents, Nancy and Ken Washko, her little brother, Matthew, and Grandma Nancy — was at Duke Medical Center preparing for a stem cell transplant and seesawing between tears and laughter.

“It changes every minute,” Cathy says, and Wednesday had plenty of both.

They were happy when they learned “the pediatric oncologist is absolutely amazed at where she is right now. Most children at this stage would be getting their nutrition though an intravenous tube, but she’s into ‘The Nutcracker’ right now, and she went in to get her radiation dancing with a doughnut in her hand.”

But they were down when they discovered that she has an infection that will hospitalize her today.

“It’s a roller-coaster ride,” Cathy says. “Every time you think you’ve got something good, you get hit in the face again.

“Every day goes by, and we keep thinking she’s supposed to be getting worse — and she has lost 3 or 4 pounds in the past week — but she’s still eating, and we hope this is the sign of good things to come.”

Sam and her family are at Duke now because no match was found for a bone marrow transplant, but doctors found two near-matches for a stem cell transplant, which uses blood from an umbilical cord, and a little more than two weeks ago, she started the medical climb headed toward that transplant.

If all goes well, she’ll complete her five days of total body radiation Friday, will then have three days of high-dose chemo, a day of rest — and her transplant next Wednesday.

She will get what is called a “cord blood transplant.”

The cord, Cathy says, was donated by a parent in New York. It is not a perfect match but that won’t matter because cord blood has never had to fight infections or learn patterns, and for the next four weeks she’ll have no blood type.

That means, says Cathy, that the “gift of life” —blood and platelet donations — will help keep her alive. And it doesn’t matter, she says, what type of blood donors have.

The doctors hope that within four weeks her body will start creating its own new blood cells. New blood cells are “stem cells” or “blasts.”

“The best thing people can do now,” Cathy says, “is donate platelets. There is a big shortage of platelets. Most cancer patients will need about 20 units of platelets. One unit will be donations from about 14 people.”

Sam’s rare type of leukemia, which is in remission now but will return unless a transplant is successful, will require more than 120 units of platelets to keep her alive while her body fights to create new blood cells.

Even with the infection, she’s feeling good right now, and her spirit is high.

“And that’s the spirit that will pull Samantha through all this,” Cathy says.

So donate platelets, she pleads. You’ll have to make the appointment at the American Red Cross offices in Charlotte, Winston-Salem or Asheville. The process takes about two hours.

If you donate platelets and have not had a bone marrow test, you can ask to be tested free.

In the meantime, financial donations are still and forever welcome. If the stem cell procedure Samantha is going through right now doesn’t work, she’ll have to return to the hope for a bone marrow transplant and finding a donor is costly. One hundred percent of all donations to the American Red Cross Samantha Washko Fund will be used for donor typing and may be mailed in care of John Zerger, 131 Malcolm Road, Salisbury, NC 28144.

And P.S. Take another look at this picture of a little girl who couldn’t stop dancing while she was getting a blood transfusion.

Contact Rose Post at 704-797-4251 or rpost@salisburypost.com .