The purple and pink scooter, compliments of grandpa, plays three tunes at the push of a button. The bouncing zebra plays music, too. The rhinoceros and ducks and bears add further innocence to a living room with plush carpet and a large fish tank. Katie Nelson, 13 months old, plays in this world.

Her mother, 34-year-old Nicole Nelson, watches and wonders, hopeful she'll live to see her daughter attend school, marry, have children of her own.

Nicole is fighting for her life, suffering from aplastic anemia. Her bone marrow doesn't produce the cells she needs. Her immune system, controlled by white blood cells, can't fight infection. Her blood doesn't clot properly, because of a low platelet count. She tires easily without enough red blood cells, which transport oxygen.

She needs a marrow transplant, and she can't find a match. Without one, she'll die. There isn't much time.

Katie can change Nicole's mood quickly, from tears while Nicole speaks about the unknown to laughter when Katie rides her zebra.

"She makes us all smile that she's so happy," Nicole said. "She's a happy girl. We get phone calls and e-mails, but mostly we focus on her. She's our light."

The light from Katie, her laugh, her curiosity, her reddish brown hair and blue eyes, can blind you while demanding that you keep watching. The shadow blanketing Nicole and her husband, Rick, stops you in your tracks.

Nicole graduated from Stratford High, just south of Colebrook. She wanted to be a doctor, then changed her mind, becoming a physician's assistant so she could help

people while still having enough time to return home for dinner with Rick, a cop in Peterborough. She works at Concord Hospital. Katie arrived in September 2006.

The bruises on Nicole first appeared in July. Her legs. Her arms. Her belly. Rick noticed.

"The bruises just weren't going away, and there were quite a few of them," Rick said. "She was tired, and that's normal mother stuff, but I urged her to go to the doctor."

Blood work was done. Everything was normal, except Nicole's platelet count. You should be at 175,000 to 300,000; she was at 60,000.

Doctors first thought Nicole's immune system was causing her spleen to pull platelets out. Take steroids, perhaps remove the spleen, return to a normal life. That was the theory. That was the hope.

More blood work followed. Nicole's white blood cell count dropped. A bone marrow biopsy last month revealed the problem: Nicole had no stem cells, which produce the other cells. She had aplastic anemia. A bone marrow donor was needed to save her life.

Nicole showed no trace of fear or sorrow in an interview this week, until she was asked to reflect on that awful day. Then she cried, while Katie pushed buttons and played music.

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