Hi, our names are Courtney, Kathleen, and Janie, and we're raising money to help our parents with the medical and living costs that have stacked up due to our dad's leukemia and lymphoma.
Our dad, Sami Khal, was first diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) back in 2005--we were only 7, 9, and 11 years old, which is what our dad immediately told his doctor when he was diagnosed. His first reaction to his cancer diagnosis was to worry about us kids! Our dad was only 39 himself, whereas most people diagnosed with CLL are in their 60s. His CLL was particularly aggressive and his life expectancy when he was first diagnosed was about 10 years; thankfully, due to trial treatments, our dad has had more time than that.
Since 2005, our dad has gone through over 14 different treatments, with several of those being trial treatments or out-of-state treatments. On two separate occasions, he and our Mom had to live in California for treatment at City of Hope for approximately one month. The last few years have only gotten harder and harder. In October of 2020, about a year after a trial treatment that we were all hoping would put my dad into permanent remission, my dad was diagnosed with something called Richter's Transformation, which is where the CLL transforms into an aggressive form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (specifically, DLBCL: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma). After lots of hard treatments, my dad entered a brief, miraculous remission in 2022 that only lasted for about 3 months before both the leukemia and lymphoma returned. The lymphoma also spread to the femur bone in my dad's left leg, requiring surgery and more treatment there as well.
We've been told that our dad is out of treatment options and that he doesn't have much time left. He's kept up as good an attitude as anyone can with this kind of news, but it's been incredibly difficult. He experiences fatigue beyond what we can imagine, has trouble eating and walking, and is often in pain. We've been told that there may be one last off-label treatment we can try, but the doctors are hesitant to be optimistic.
We want to make this clear about our dad: as difficult as his journey has been, his biggest concern has always been for our family. He loves harder than anyone else we know. He can make us laugh better than anyone else can. And even throughout a scary and difficult fight with cancer, he's always fought to make sure that the three of us and our mom would be ok. He's never hesitated to help others, even when he's often been the one in need. That's just the kind of caring human he is, and that won't ever change.
All this being said, it's been a difficult few years. We've never done anything like this before, but the costs associated with 18 years of battling cancer have added up. Our dad hasn't been able to work for the last few years and is on medical disability and our mom has been taking FMLA to stay home and care for my dad. Along with neither of our parents being able to work consistently, they’ve had some extremely high medical bills and this new medication has a $3,500 per month co-pay.
Our dad is a very lovable guy--and because of that, so many people have asked how they can help. If you choose to give, we'll use the money to cover my dad's past, present and future medical expenses, medication costs, and cost of living support since neither of my parents can work at this time.
Thank you for praying, checking in, and caring for my family in so many ways. And if you can donate, thank you for caring for us in this way as well. It means more to us than you know.
