Help Greg Kick Cancer's Butt!!!
Donation protected
In December 2016, life turned upside down for Greg Bishop, a quiet, hard-working young guy who enjoys music and is an avid NY Rangers fan. Out of the blue, he developed a lingering bad headache; he was short of breath with almost no exertion and could barely get out of bed—something this 24 year old who had never been sick a day in his life couldn’t quite figure out. On December 14th, his condition had deteriorated so much that his worried mom and dad took him to the Emergency Room at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany. What the doctors discovered would change his life forever.
Greg had lost two thirds of his blood volume—he needed immediate blood transfusions. The next day the hospital did a bone marrow biopsy and he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Within three days of his transfer to Albany Med’s Center for Blood Disorders, Greg was being pumped with an aggressive chemotherapy regimen. He spent that Christmas –and New Year—and Super Bowl--hooked up to an IV in his hospital bed. And he learned that he would need a bone marrow transplant to fully recover. The search began for a donor. His only sibling had just a 25% chance of being a match.
After four and a half weeks, Greg finally went home from the hospital to continue the chemo treatment as an outpatient, but the freedom was very short-lived. His weakened immune system left him susceptible to infection, and within a week, he developed a serious form of pneumonia, and was rushed back into ICU, where he spent nearly a week on oxygen, fighting for every breath.
He’s home now, still on chemo and awaiting the next adventure he never wanted--a bone marrow transplant at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. There has been some good news. His sister Audrey was tested and, miraculously, she is a perfect donor match. She, too, will have to leave work to be hospitalized in Boston to donate her bone marrow for him.
Greg’s parents, Paul and Diane Bishop, have been by his side round the clock --encouraging him, and supporting him as best they can—both emotionally and financially—since he first developed his headaches. But the expenses are starting to mount up and the ones ahead are staggering—both their children in the hospital and at least a month’s stay in Boston ahead for them, while Greg recovers from the transplant—as well as whatever lost time from work and expenses their daughter Audrey –a young mother herself-- faces because of her unhesitating willingness to help her brother.
Greg deserves the chance to get back to being a 24 year old with his whole life ahead of him--without hospital beds, and IV’s and endless medical bills. He has a long road ahead—if all goes perfectly, it will be another six months before he can return to a normal life.
Please help fund his recovery –and give this really great young guy the same chance at a long, happy, healthy life as other kids his age
Greg had lost two thirds of his blood volume—he needed immediate blood transfusions. The next day the hospital did a bone marrow biopsy and he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Within three days of his transfer to Albany Med’s Center for Blood Disorders, Greg was being pumped with an aggressive chemotherapy regimen. He spent that Christmas –and New Year—and Super Bowl--hooked up to an IV in his hospital bed. And he learned that he would need a bone marrow transplant to fully recover. The search began for a donor. His only sibling had just a 25% chance of being a match.
After four and a half weeks, Greg finally went home from the hospital to continue the chemo treatment as an outpatient, but the freedom was very short-lived. His weakened immune system left him susceptible to infection, and within a week, he developed a serious form of pneumonia, and was rushed back into ICU, where he spent nearly a week on oxygen, fighting for every breath.
He’s home now, still on chemo and awaiting the next adventure he never wanted--a bone marrow transplant at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. There has been some good news. His sister Audrey was tested and, miraculously, she is a perfect donor match. She, too, will have to leave work to be hospitalized in Boston to donate her bone marrow for him.
Greg’s parents, Paul and Diane Bishop, have been by his side round the clock --encouraging him, and supporting him as best they can—both emotionally and financially—since he first developed his headaches. But the expenses are starting to mount up and the ones ahead are staggering—both their children in the hospital and at least a month’s stay in Boston ahead for them, while Greg recovers from the transplant—as well as whatever lost time from work and expenses their daughter Audrey –a young mother herself-- faces because of her unhesitating willingness to help her brother.
Greg deserves the chance to get back to being a 24 year old with his whole life ahead of him--without hospital beds, and IV’s and endless medical bills. He has a long road ahead—if all goes perfectly, it will be another six months before he can return to a normal life.
Please help fund his recovery –and give this really great young guy the same chance at a long, happy, healthy life as other kids his age
Organizer and beneficiary
Heather Burke
Organizer
Schenectady, NY
Diane Bishop
Beneficiary
