18 year old diagnosed with leukemia

I am starting this Gofundme for a family that is near and dear to my heart! They just recently learned that their 18 year old daughter has Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Please consider donating for this family who will be spending their time in the hospital for the holidays and for several months. All donations will go directly to Amy and Steve Oyler for Anna’s treatment and care.

Story from her mom: This all began only five months ago on July 3, 2023 my precious 18 year old girl got a sunburn on the lower portion of her legs and feet despite putting on sunscreen. We believed this was sun poisoning and attempted to treat as such but it continued to worsen. We took Anna to Southeast Alabama Medical Center,and discovered that her blood pressure was 236/136. So they transferred us to Critical Care in Children’s’ hospital where we learned her creatinine in her kidneys was very high and the protein in her urine. They did a biopsy of her leg to test for a form of vasculitis, that had to be ruled out before her kidneys could be biopsied. Biopsy indicated that she had a very rare kidney disease called Compliment 3 Glomerulopathy (C3G).

The doctors further indicated that in as little as two months time she had lost 70% of her kidney function and they began the treatment to suppress her immune system and calm the scarring of her kidneys to preserve as much of her kidneys as possible. After a few months of immune suppressing treatments her kidneys has only worsened by about 10 percent .

We were transferred from care with Children’s Hospital of Alabama to the University of Alabama Hospital in an effort to bypass dialysis and move straight to kidney transplant.

Our preliminary visit was November 8th to meet her new nephrologist and set a baseline for future care. We were to return in January and begin registering with the transplant center. However, on December 4th, she became sick with what was thought to be a virus. After bloodwork was done, it was determined that her white blood cell count was completely depleted and she was considered to be in what is called “neutropenia.” This means that her immune system was severely compromised and unable to fight off any kind of harmful bacteria.

After being admitted to UAB, her levels continued to drop and a bone marrow biopsy was required. Due to a heavy rash on her face for the past several weeks, further testing was ordered which revealed Lupus nephritis.

Her care has now been moved to the hematology department at UAB. Anna is still battling nephritic fevers which is delaying her treatment to begin slightly. We are waiting for a complete report from the bone marrow biopsy to reveal what stage and exact type of leukemia. Treatments are expected to begin in the next couple of days. This will be a battle. She is strong. We do expect to be in the hospital for a couple of months.

Her kidney levels at the moment have improved from a low of 17% on Dec 6th to 20% currently and seem to be stable. She will still require a kidney transplant but we pray that the stability holds for a very long time as we attack the leukemia first.