Monica's Leukemia Journey

The friends of Jeannie Sandoval are looking to raise at least $20,000 for her and her family.  Jeannie's daughter, Monica, was recently diagnosed with leukemia for the third time since her freshman year in high school.  Because of the extensive chemotherapy Monica has received during previous bouts of leukemia, she is very limited on treatment options, and she will likely travel out of the State for medical therapy.  She will be in inpatient care at Egleston for at least 30 days before any sort of transition can be made to another treatment facility.

This has been a long road for the family. Jeannie is a mom to three super kids---Monica, Bubba, and Cody.   Besides being this super mom, Jeannie is also a fantastic art teacher who has positively impacted thousands of kids in the Hall County (Georgia) community.  Now, she is preparing to take an extended leave of absence to be by Monica's side and could possibly be away from her classroom for the next year.  Because Jeannie has very limited access to paid sick leave, she  needs our help! See Jeannie's latest post from Monica's care page.

Posted July 23, 2016  3:17pm

You know, I've really enjoyed the past four years telling you all how good things are going with Monica.  But this is a post I REALLY didn't ever expect to make.  We found on Thursday that Monica's acute undifferentiated leukemia has returned for the third time.

Monica will start treatment again at Egleston.  She will be inpatient beginning Wednesday.  On that day, they will do her echo, labs, xrays and any other imaging needed.  Thursday, she will get her CVL put back in.  While she is in surgery getting her line, they will also do a spinal tap, bone marraw aspiration and biopsy on her chest mass.

How did we get to this point you ask? Well, Tuesday (6/19) she had her very last survivor appointment.  This was a soft transition to the young survivor clinic at Emory.  During her physical, a mass was found on her chest.  This mass was pretty big since it can be seen and felt easily.  The doctors then put us into action and set up another appointment to see a solid tumor specialist.  The labs they drew on Tuesday were out of whack so they ordered more for her appointment on Thursday.  These labs showed 50% blasts in her blood.  The mass is most likely leukemia so Dr. Keller , her old leukemia doctor, is now in charge of her treatment.

We don't know what her treatment will be but we know that God is in control.  We are scared, but not afraid.  Monica is ready to fight this beast again.  So prayer warriors, dust off your wings and let's storm the heavens for complete and total healing.