Hope For Amy Bednar

This is a page put together for Amy Bednar and her family to help during Amy's battle with Leukemia.  It has been a collabortive effort between the following people:
- Darci Reyes - Amy's sister that lives in Midland, TX
- Brian & Amy Gutknecht - close friends of the Bednar family and long time coworkers with Amy at Plano Orthopedics
- Michael & Abby Yocum - lived in Frisco along side the Bednar's for several years and attend church at FBC Frisco
- Kim Hopkins - Info coming soon...

Have questions, ideas, concerns or thoughts about Amy and her family?  Feel free to reach out to one of these people...

While Amy is winning her battle with leukemia, the financial toll on the family is starting to become apparant.  Amy is going to miss approximately 10 months of work while undergoing treatment.  As the medical bills start to roll in, you can imagine what a strain that adds on top of the normal household expenses we all deal with.

Imagine if your family income decreased by 50% or more without any notice.  Could you use a little help?  Anything helps.  Please consider donating today!


Amy's Story (this was her post from her Facebook, May 8, 2014)

Today I was diagnosed with APML Leukemia.

Yes, you read that correctly and yes I'm as shocked as you are. This has come completely out of left field.

Here's the story...
As I posted on Tuesday I had a routine blood draw for an annual physical. The biggest reason I had scheduled this blood draw was to evaluate my cholesterol level. Last year about this time my doctor had told me I had borderline high cholesterol and need to make some changes to my diet and increase my exercise level. Honestly, this was one of the primary reasons why I decided to try Plexus last November. I was thrilled to see the positive effects it was having on my energy level and blood sugar control. It was really helping me make better food choices and I wasn't snacking on junk all the time. So I was really excited to see some objective numbers on how it was effecting my cholesterol levels.

Well, Wednesday morning while treating my patients (I'm a physical therapist for those who don't know) I was interrupted by a phone call by my primary care physician. She asked how I was feeling. I told her fine except for the fact she was calling me mid-morning and it wasn't her nurse on the phone. She told me the pathologist had called because my blood counts were low, really low and I had pancytopenia. Go ahead look it up. I had to. She told me my levels were so low that I needed to proceed to the ER immediately because my blood work indicated I had leukemia.

Needless to say my next stop was Plano Presbyterian ER. My blood work was run again and an hour later we learned my original blood work was not a fluke and I was admitted to the oncology wing with an 80-90% chance that I did have leukemia. At the very least my WBC count was a 1.0. It's supposed to be 3.9-10 and I am at high risk for infection and they wanted to keep me here until those levels started to go up. My RBC, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were all low too. I was most shocked by my platelet levels which are supposed to be in a ranged from 150-450. Mine are 55.

I met with the oncologist she said she had looked at blood smear under the microscope and couldn't immediately identify leukemia. She couldn't rule it out but she couldn't confirm the suspected diagnosis either. So I was scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy this morning that would be definitive. I received the results today around 4 PM.

I've been told that if I had to pick leukemia off a tree this was the one to pick. While it's going to be a tough road ahead this type of leukemia is not only treatable but curable. Praise the LORD. Which I needed to hear because I was already writing my own obituary in my head.

I'll be starting chemotherapy tomorrow and will be in the hospital for the next 3-4 weeks. I've already been warned about the side effects of the chemo which I am NOT looking forward to. Especially since I have no outward signs or symptoms of even being sick let alone having cancer. I know it sounds ridiculous but I'm going to go ahead and announce it. I'm most upset about losing my hair. Call me vain I don't care at this moment that is what I am most mad about.

I will be keeping everyone posted via Facebook with updates. Thanks so much to everyone who has already reached out to my family with hospital visits, calls, texts, emails, and offers to help in any way possible. It really does mean so much to me to feel your love. I'm sure I will be taking you up on your offers very soon but right now I'm not sure what we need. My parents are here now helping out with the kids so that is a huge relief. Campbell is not taking the fact I'm not going to be home for a month well. Anderson is in his own little Anderson world and doesn't realize what's going on yet but I"m sure he'll begin to at least process that I'm not home soon enough.

Thanks again for all your prayers. Keep them coming I'm going to need it. Somehow, someway I am going to glorify God with this.