My name is Colleen McGrath I am a patient care technician and I currently work at Phoebe Sumter Hospital in Americus GA. I am doing my go fund me page due to a medical emergency as I am suffering from AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). It does have a high success rate with proper treatment and diagnosis however it has a long therapy regiment.

I was diagnosed November 10th with Leukemia, it was very sudden and unexpected. So I had no preparation for it. I was then hospitalized for 4 weeks on November 20th. I still have a 4x of 3 days of chemo treatment I still have to go through. I’m being told I will be out of work for a minimum of 4 months. I recently moved from Chicago IL to Americus GA so I didn’t have enough time in my new job to qualify for short term disability. All of my family and friends are in Chicago so my support system are there. As I am filing for SSI however that can take 4-6 months to receive funds.

I’m looking for help to pay my household expenses as I still have my son to take of as well. I have an adult son with autism.

This has been difficult and I have family that has helped me to make sure my household expenses were paid at least until January but after that I will be struggling to make sure I have a roof over my head along with my son.

It was at the point when I was told on December 26th that I wouldn’t be able to return to work a minimum of 4 months, that I realized that I needed help from our community.

I know that it might be hard to understand how someone in the healthcare field could not make provisions for their future but this was an unexpected medical diagnosis that no one person is ever prepared for. AML can happen at any age to anyone and symptoms only occur at the worst, when treatment is immediate. Which is what happened to me, I didn’t show any symptoms only a low platelet count with small blood drops on my legs.