Outside the Brooklyn Artists Gym, or B.A.G., in Cobble Hill, a thunderstorm pounded the Gowanus Canal, and the sky over the industrial landscape turned from dark gray to an eerie yellow.

In Flatbush, where Church Avenue and Coney Island Avenue intersect, one hears a quintessential urban sound mash: bus brakes squealing and a jackhammer boring into the street. Just a few blocks away, along placid Prospect Park South at Argyle Road and Albemarle Road, birds chirp and a baby babbles.

Shanice Murphy was only five years old when she was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a disease that occurs when a person’s bone marrow stops producing new blood cells. The lack of white blood cells increases susceptibility to infection and the lack of platelets means a simple bump or bruise can cause unstoppable bleeding.