Cancer isn't welcome here!!!
Donation protected
On a cool, breezy Mother's Day in 2015, Jamee went to Express Care for a five day old sore throat that wouldn't go away with anibiotics. She took her son, Jayden, with her. As a single mom, Jayden and Jamee did everything together. As a teacher at a daycare, they even spent their days together.
Imagine going into Express Care on a holiday weekend and having a routine blood test, only to be told to get to the emergency room immediately with suspected lymphoma, Cancer of the lymphatic system.
Shuffling around to find instant care for Jayden and racing to the hospital, in shock and terrified, Jamee was told at the hospital she either had lymphoma or acute myeloid leukemia, both aggressive medical emergencies. There was no doubt she had one or the other.
Over the the next several days, Jamee endured several leukapheresis treatments. Her white count was 176,000. She was at risk for stroke. Jamee had bone marrow biopsies, heart scans, bone scans, picc lines inserted and finally chemo began as the heartbreaking diagnosis came in: acute myeloid leukemia.
Thirty days of inpatient treatment. Multiple painful bone marrow biopsies. Cardiac emergencies, sudden hair loss, contact isolation, neutropenia diets, and, most of all, a confused little boy desperately missing his mom.
As as a daycare teacher with an already outrageously low salary now receiving only 50% while not able to work, Jamee's primary concern has been how to continue living independently and provde the lovingly hands-on and fun life Jayden had had up to now.
A beach vacation would have to be canceled. The water park season passes for mother and son would be useless. No quick trips to Six Flags or the zoo. Jamee was essentially tied to chemo, the hospital, blood transfusions and platelets.
This
idependent life Jamee had created for her eight year old son and herself, inseparable until now, had been destroyed by $250,000 in medical bills, a devastating and uncertain diagnosis, and a salary reduced to half.
Jamee now goes to the doctor for labs, platelets and transfusions and shots nearly every day to build up her white count, which is destroyed by chemo which she endures for a week each month as an inpatient at the hospital. She's not allowed to work because she can't be in environments which would contribute to infections. She can't go see her "kids" at the daycare where she works.
And yet, she qualifies for no disability because her disease has not yet kept her out of work for at least five months.
Jamee is 35. She's my hero, one of the very few people I'd trust with the lives of my children. And the way she has faced cancer is extraordinary. On her bad days, I've heard her say, "I just want to wake up on a day where I get to decide what I do. Cancer should get to decide."
I love this young woman. I love her attitude, her perspective, her desire to return to her career and all her kids. I respect her most of all because of this statement: "it's really not very painful. I just want to be a real mom again. I want to pay my bills. I want to go back yo work."
I've never admired anyone more. And I want to help her get through this with peace, to remember that sometimes independence just means survival. Let's help her with groceries and bills and rent and gas so she can concentrate on survival. And maybe someday, she can take Jayden to the beach.
Thank you.
Imagine going into Express Care on a holiday weekend and having a routine blood test, only to be told to get to the emergency room immediately with suspected lymphoma, Cancer of the lymphatic system.
Shuffling around to find instant care for Jayden and racing to the hospital, in shock and terrified, Jamee was told at the hospital she either had lymphoma or acute myeloid leukemia, both aggressive medical emergencies. There was no doubt she had one or the other.
Over the the next several days, Jamee endured several leukapheresis treatments. Her white count was 176,000. She was at risk for stroke. Jamee had bone marrow biopsies, heart scans, bone scans, picc lines inserted and finally chemo began as the heartbreaking diagnosis came in: acute myeloid leukemia.
Thirty days of inpatient treatment. Multiple painful bone marrow biopsies. Cardiac emergencies, sudden hair loss, contact isolation, neutropenia diets, and, most of all, a confused little boy desperately missing his mom.
As as a daycare teacher with an already outrageously low salary now receiving only 50% while not able to work, Jamee's primary concern has been how to continue living independently and provde the lovingly hands-on and fun life Jayden had had up to now.
A beach vacation would have to be canceled. The water park season passes for mother and son would be useless. No quick trips to Six Flags or the zoo. Jamee was essentially tied to chemo, the hospital, blood transfusions and platelets.
This
idependent life Jamee had created for her eight year old son and herself, inseparable until now, had been destroyed by $250,000 in medical bills, a devastating and uncertain diagnosis, and a salary reduced to half.
Jamee now goes to the doctor for labs, platelets and transfusions and shots nearly every day to build up her white count, which is destroyed by chemo which she endures for a week each month as an inpatient at the hospital. She's not allowed to work because she can't be in environments which would contribute to infections. She can't go see her "kids" at the daycare where she works.
And yet, she qualifies for no disability because her disease has not yet kept her out of work for at least five months.
Jamee is 35. She's my hero, one of the very few people I'd trust with the lives of my children. And the way she has faced cancer is extraordinary. On her bad days, I've heard her say, "I just want to wake up on a day where I get to decide what I do. Cancer should get to decide."
I love this young woman. I love her attitude, her perspective, her desire to return to her career and all her kids. I respect her most of all because of this statement: "it's really not very painful. I just want to be a real mom again. I want to pay my bills. I want to go back yo work."
I've never admired anyone more. And I want to help her get through this with peace, to remember that sometimes independence just means survival. Let's help her with groceries and bills and rent and gas so she can concentrate on survival. And maybe someday, she can take Jayden to the beach.
Thank you.
Organizer
Margot Tull Yutzy
Organizer
Woodside, IL