Christina vs Leukemia

Hi everyone,
This may come off as a shock to many of you, but long story short these past few months I have been battling cancer. I began experiencing symptoms in the beginning of March. I had a skin infection, a gum infection and easily bruised which I’ve never experienced in the past. I had an extremely bad cough and sore throat. Things progressively got worse. I could barely walk, lost my appetite, and was very pale.  My parents brought me to urgent care mid April where I was immediately admitted and going through a million tests to see what was going on with me. I was given multiple blood transfusions, and being ruled out for COVID-19.  My cough was confirmed to be Pneumonia and later found out I was anemic. All of the doctors knew that I was steadily declining, and after a bone marrow biopsy I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and transferred from the Walnut Creek Kaiser to Oakland Kaiser as they are the leading leukemia center.  


The game plan was to start me on chemo but because I wasn’t stable due to my high fever, dangerously high heart rate, and lung infection; I wasn’t able to start chemotherapy because I would not be able to fight my infections once that began. I was bed ridden and coughing like crazy.  Unfortunately this was when COVID was happening and I was not allowed any visitors. Because my health was declining, my care team allowed me visitors for one week (yay) and after that I started feeling a lot better. The comfort and love from my family helped heal me.  


I’ve been in remission for two weeks now and am currently doing my second cycle of chemo to keep me in remission before I have my bone marrow transplant at Stanford Health.  I’m waiting on a donor match and my amazing siblings just got test to see if they are candidates for me! Once this all starts, I’ll be at Stanford Health for 2 weeks for the transplant; then stay in a nearby hotel for a month or two depending on how I heal. I need to be in a hotel close enough to the hospital in case something goes wrong, also to reduce the chances of me catching an infection because of pets or visitors. Doctors hope I’ll be able to feel a lot better after 6 months and by the Grace of God, be cured in a year and off medication.  I have a long road ahead of me but I’ve been blessed with a great support team from Kaiser, Stanford, and more importantly— my family and friends.  I especially loved my oncology nurses!

Any donations will be greatly appreciated as I won’t be able to work for almost a year.  God is good and I’ve been pretty optimistic about my recovery! Thank you guys for the support! ❤️❤️