My daughter, Amanda met Santei while they were working at a church together  in Italy in 2017. They started dating in 2018. They fell in love and decided to return to the United States of America to get married on July 27, 2019. A couple weeks after they got married Amanda got sick and started suffering from pain, fatigue and swollen lymph nodes. They were not quite sure what was happening and thought that it would just go away in time.  Doctors assumed it was just the lingering affects of the flu. On February 2020 Amanda got a biopsy and it showed that she had a form of cancer called Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. It was recommended that Amanda start chemotherapy but Santei and Amanda wanted to pursue an all natural therapy first called the Gerson therapy. The therapy showed favorable results in the beginning but then began to not work. Amanda was told that she was at a high risk of a heart attack or stroke because of a tumor that was located close to her vital organs. That's when they decided to switch to conventional treatment. Amanda began chemotherapy on October 2020 and was projected to be done in 6 months. Treatment went well at first and Amanda was feeling significantly better. She was energetic and much of her pain had subsided. However, after 3 months the chemo started to not work as well, and much of her pain returned. The oncologist continued treating her with chemotherapy but switched some of the drugs to get a better response. The doctors did some more tests and concluded that Amanda has “primary refractory” Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which means that her cancer is resistant to the first one or two lines of treatment typically used on patients like her.
 
Amanda’s oncologist referred her to a team of lymphoma specialist at the University of Miami who are more experienced with dealing with primary refractory patients. They are confident with her treatment moving forward which would consist of another more potent form of chemotherapy, radiation and then a stem cell transplant with her own blood. However, before Amanda can start, the doctors have recommended that if she would like to have a family in the future she should look into egg preservation. This is because the next line of treatment she will be receiving is a lot more powerful than the previous and would most likely render her infertile. Amanda and Santei are extremely thankful to God that Amanda still has healthy eggs, even after her previous months of chemotherapy.
 
This is why we are reaching out to you to consider to help Amanda and Santei with having a family in the future. Much of the chemotherapy is covered by insurance but procedures to preserve a family for the future are not. The total amount to carry out egg preservation is roughly $20,000. Would you consider donating to this young couple to help them start a family in the future?