VIDEO: As the sound of bells rang throughout UF Health Shands, Alachua County firefighter, husband, and father, Brandon Boothby, closed the chapter of one of the scariest seasons of his life.
“It’s crazy because you feel like you’re so helpless in there,” he said.
Boothby was diagnosed with a rare blood condition called Aplastic Anemia, and needed a bone marrow transplant to survive. He spent about four months in the hospital. “We didn’t really know if there was going to be a good end to this,” said Lauren Boothby, his wife.
After chemotherapy and a transplant, doctors cleared him to go home.
“From packing up my luggage cart to coming down the elevator to seeing this, it’s like euphoria,” said Brandon. Boothby has been a firefighter for six years with Alachua County Fire Rescue. He said over the years his coworkers have become family.