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Fight For Ellie

On December 6, 2017, the absolute worst thing that could ever happen to a family, happened to ours. Our 5 year-old daughter, Ellie, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML.

Almost immediately, Ellie was admitted to the hospital and began treatment. She fought hard and brave through 5 gruelling rounds of chemo and in May, went home in remission.

Our Ellie, whose dream is to grow up to be a mom and a florist, was relishing in her new clean bill of health. But, it didn’t last long enough. In October, the AML returned, and Ellie’s only hope was a bone marrow transplant.  Some of you may remember the “Swab for Ellie” campaign. The hunt for a match was a tremendous undertaking likened to finding a needle in a haystack, but with all your prayers and best wishes, a donor was found!

Ellie had a bone marrow transplant on February 6, 2019 and after chemo, complications, and countless side-effects, she once again came home in remission. She spent the whole summer working hard with tutors, trying her best to catch up on almost 2 years of missed school.

On the first day of Grade 2, Ellie proudly put on her school uniform and told us it made her feel strong. Ellie went to school. Later that same day, we found out Ellie’s Leukemia was back, again. 

I will never ever forget the look in her eyes when we told her.  

There was no longer a clear next course of treatment. We heard words like trial, experimental, not available and treatment resistant. And worse, Palliative Care.  We spent sleepless nights researching and networking to find a path for Ellie.

We discovered that if Ellie could get back into remission, she could qualify for an experimental transplant in the United States, only available in Columbus, Ohio. But that still meant we had to get her into remission first. Luckily, Ellie was able to partake in a clinical chemotherapy trial here in Montreal, at Ste. Justine Hospital.

Miraculously right now Ellie is once again in remission.  All our treatment for her so far has been available in Montreal. We have been able to have your support throughout, and we feel so fortunate to have benefited from a healthcare system that covers the exorbitant costs associated with saving Ellie’s life.

Now it’s time to move to Columbus, Ohio, and to put our faith in the transplant she can only receive there.  This treatment is Ellie’s chance. Cary will be donating his own bone marrow to save our beloved daughter Ellie’s life.

Now we really need your help. The transplant will require us to be in Columbus for at least 3 months.  The treatment alone will cost upwards of 1 million dollars.

We are overwhelmed and scared but completely determined to give Ellie every chance to become the mom and florist she wants to be. We haven’t worked much these past 2 years and we can’t shoulder the costs ourselves.

We are so incredibly grateful for all the support we’ve gotten to date and words cannot possibly express our gratitude for your continued support during this time. We simply would not have made it this far without you. It’s too hard. 

Please help Ellie one last time. She has the fight, now let us give her the chance to show us how it’s done. Please dig deep to help us fund our miracle, an experimental transplant which can possibly cure Ellie's cancer and give her back the childhood she deserves.

Every bit of love, every prayer, every gift, every time you share this, and EVERY penny you can spare to help save our beautiful Ellie means more to us than we can ever put into words.  Thank you from the very bottom of our hearts.

Amanda and Cary

Donations 

  • Tyler Johnston
    • $5 
    • 4 yrs

Organizer

Amanda Sokoloff White
Organizer
Côte-Saint-Luc East, QC

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