Cancer Treatment for Megan Murray
Hello, my name is Kelly. Please help me to raise funds for my dear friend Megan Murray to assist with her cancer treatment and related costs.
Megan’s Journey
Three years ago, after suffering for months with tremendous pain and having been misdiagnosed multiple times, Megan had reached the end of her rope and drove herself to the E.R. After 6 months of having been seen by doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists, her intense pain persisted with no answers. It was that day in the E.R that doctors ordered the CT scan that finally led them to suspect her true diagnosis - cancer. She was taken that same day by ambulance to Regions Hospital.
At Regions she learned that she had multiple compression fractures in her back and chest and that her bones were being eaten away, making them appear similar to swiss cheese. The next day she received her official diagnosis - Multiple Myeloma, a rare cancer that attacks the bone marrow and causes the deterioration of the bones, leading to fractures, snapping and intense pain. Megan’s life changed dramatically that day.
From that day forward she had a new life. A life with cancer. She began oral and injected chemo treatments that lasted the next five months. The chemo reduced her cancer somewhat, but not enough. The next step was a stem cell transplant. In January of 2020 she and her stepmother, a retired nurse, packed their bags for a long stay in Rochester, where she would undergo the thirty day process of removing stem cells, “scrubbing” them, and wiping her immune system completely out. Doctors would then return the stem cells and her body would then have to rebuild a brand new immune system. She had been told by doctors at Mayo that the experience would feel like the closest thing to death possible, and she soon found out that was true. She became very sick.
After being given the OK to return home, she once again resumed her daily oral chemo. This kept her cancer levels fairly low for almost a year. Then in the summer of 2021, she began feeling pain in her left leg so severe that she could barely walk. A PET scan revealed that the cancer was growing and aggressive again and damaging her bones. Her oncologist started her on a new chemo infusion treatment - three weeks on and one week off, along with her daily oral chemo medication. She also underwent surgery placing a rod in her leg to fortify her deteriorating femur, in hopes of preventing it from snapping under her own weight.
Today, Megan’s cancer is still on the rise. But there is a relatively new procedure that has given her hope. It’s called CAR-T Cell Therapy. It is similar to the stem cell transplant she received in 2020, except that in this procedure, the body’s T Cells are genetically modified. They are basically programmed to attack and kill the cancer cells. The success rate for this treatment is very high, at 80 - 99% effectiveness for her type of cancer, Multiple Myeloma. It is also her only option now. It’s her last chance.
In October, Megan will begin the steps for this treatment. It starts with testing to make sure her body is healthy enough to undergo the procedure. If so, they will collect and modify her T Cells, destroy her immune system, replace the newly modified cells and wait for her new immune system to grow. This entire process will take up to 50 days. The procedure will happen at the Mayo Clinic, but during the bulk of the duration, she will not be in the hospital, but rather will need to be based at a hotel nearby in order to return to the clinic for daily appointments.
From the time of her diagnosis, this journey has been a large financial burden for Megan. She and her young son have had to make many sacrifices and have struggled. But this upcoming procedure will put an even larger strain on finances. As most of us know, insurance does not cover everything.
Between her hotel stay, trips back and forth to medical appointments in different locations, hotel stays, and medications, not to mention the basic everyday expenses, Megan needs our help.
Megan has been my friend for 15 years. I know her well. She is kind, hard working, brave, funny, strong, independent, feisty, honest and compassionate. She loves her kids, has a special way with animals of all kinds, possesses just the right amount of sarcastic wit, has the most infectious laugh, would do anything to help anyone, and is the kind of sweet and loving friend that everyone should have in their lives. She has been so strong, and done everything she can to try to survive and beat this cancer, not only for herself but for her two sons, as well. It is difficult for her to accept help from anyone, but she recognizes that she needs it now. If you are able to help Megan with this very real opportunity to not just slow the growth of her cancer, but actually beat it and live, any donation, large or small is so very appreciated.
