Finishing the Fight With Multiple Myeloma
Donation protected
Help my mom beat Multiple Myeloma!
My mom, Carol, is a United States Army Veteran honorably discharged in 1977. Like a lot of people, we live paycheck to paycheck with nothing left over to save for a "rainy day". Carol has been responding very well after starting treatment in September at the VA hospital. I have been awed by her courage and persistence. She has been a champ without much complaint getting poked and prodded many times a week leaving her with bruised arms and hands from IV's and blood draws. Her protein levels are approaching a normal level and her organ functions all remain great. Her doctor has told us she is in 90% remission and that is about as far as her current treatment can get her. The final stage of reaching remission is for us to travel to Nashville, TN, for an Auto Transplant -- and that's where we need you.
Our trip to Nashville is scheduled to start March 22, 2020 and will be approximately 4-7 weeks long and requires a full-time support person to be there at all times. I apologize for such short notice. We had no idea we would get the call so soon. Fortunately, the travel to and from Nashville and the lodging while we are there is taken care of by the VA, but that still leaves a lot of expenses we will need to pay out of pocket. My biggest concern is being able to pick up a rental car on March 22 when we arrive and getting ourselves settled so I am looking to raise $2500 ASAP. Carol is in for a lot more doctor and hospital visits that require transportation as well as caring for the day to day things like meals, cleaning, and laundry. Because of the risk of disease for immunodeficient people, we will need to rent a car to get around to doctors appointments and regular day-to-day living. We will also have to cover other incidental expenses that will come up as we're both living away from home for one to two months like gas, laundry, and meals. As her full-time caretaker and support person during her treatment, I need to take an unpaid leave from my job to be with my mom. The stress of not working while taking care of her and not being able to pay any household bills (and running a temporary second household) for a few months isn't something either of us need on our minds during this incredibly important step in her treatment. This stage in her treatment came up a little quicker on us (thankfully) than we had imagined and will give her many more years of life.
Thank you so much for all of your help and support!
What Happened
After feeling an odd popping sensation in her back while getting dressed Carol started having pain in her chest and sternum. After a week the pain intensified until she finally couldn't take it any more. On August 2, 2019, I rushed my mom to the emergency room for chest pain so bad that the weight of acceleration in the car pressing on her chest had her in tears. Her blood work came back with some concerning protein levels and other tests surrounding her lungs and heart concerned the doctors. Around midnight she was admitted to the hospital. Over the next few days, she went through many tests (bone marrow biopsy, heart ultrasound, and others, plus having blood drawn every few hours) and a tentative diagnosis was presented to us on August 7, 2019 -- Multiple Myeloma .
More tests were run after that to verify the diagnosis. A PET scan was done to have a look at the bone lesions in her skeleton. The doctors told us her chest "lit up all over" with lesions. After having some issues with her kidney function being low and needing a blood transfusion, she was kept in the hospital until August 11, 2019 -- spending 9 days there mostly unable to get out of bed. Her kidneys were struggling because they were working overtime trying to get rid of the extra protein in her system.
Multiple Myeloma is also known as bone cancer. Basically, the marrow in my mom's bones is continuously making a protein that's not needed and flooding the marrow making it unable to make new blood cells. This causes a low blood count and can result in anemia, which leads to the patient needing a blood transfusion. Thankfully, she only needed two transfusions during her earliest days of treatment.
Asking for help has never come easy to anyone in our family, so putting this out there and asking friends and family and complete strangers for help is overwhelming and incredibly hard to do. Carol is still a mom and is more worried about my stress than her own battle right now, so I want to do what I can to take that off her plate. I want my mom to get through this last leg of her treatment without needing to worry about anything except healing. Any donation will make a world of difference in helping to keep stress at a minimum and allow us, but more so her, to focus on healing and recovery. Again, thank you for all of your help and support!
My mom, Carol, is a United States Army Veteran honorably discharged in 1977. Like a lot of people, we live paycheck to paycheck with nothing left over to save for a "rainy day". Carol has been responding very well after starting treatment in September at the VA hospital. I have been awed by her courage and persistence. She has been a champ without much complaint getting poked and prodded many times a week leaving her with bruised arms and hands from IV's and blood draws. Her protein levels are approaching a normal level and her organ functions all remain great. Her doctor has told us she is in 90% remission and that is about as far as her current treatment can get her. The final stage of reaching remission is for us to travel to Nashville, TN, for an Auto Transplant -- and that's where we need you.
Our trip to Nashville is scheduled to start March 22, 2020 and will be approximately 4-7 weeks long and requires a full-time support person to be there at all times. I apologize for such short notice. We had no idea we would get the call so soon. Fortunately, the travel to and from Nashville and the lodging while we are there is taken care of by the VA, but that still leaves a lot of expenses we will need to pay out of pocket. My biggest concern is being able to pick up a rental car on March 22 when we arrive and getting ourselves settled so I am looking to raise $2500 ASAP. Carol is in for a lot more doctor and hospital visits that require transportation as well as caring for the day to day things like meals, cleaning, and laundry. Because of the risk of disease for immunodeficient people, we will need to rent a car to get around to doctors appointments and regular day-to-day living. We will also have to cover other incidental expenses that will come up as we're both living away from home for one to two months like gas, laundry, and meals. As her full-time caretaker and support person during her treatment, I need to take an unpaid leave from my job to be with my mom. The stress of not working while taking care of her and not being able to pay any household bills (and running a temporary second household) for a few months isn't something either of us need on our minds during this incredibly important step in her treatment. This stage in her treatment came up a little quicker on us (thankfully) than we had imagined and will give her many more years of life.
Thank you so much for all of your help and support!
What Happened
After feeling an odd popping sensation in her back while getting dressed Carol started having pain in her chest and sternum. After a week the pain intensified until she finally couldn't take it any more. On August 2, 2019, I rushed my mom to the emergency room for chest pain so bad that the weight of acceleration in the car pressing on her chest had her in tears. Her blood work came back with some concerning protein levels and other tests surrounding her lungs and heart concerned the doctors. Around midnight she was admitted to the hospital. Over the next few days, she went through many tests (bone marrow biopsy, heart ultrasound, and others, plus having blood drawn every few hours) and a tentative diagnosis was presented to us on August 7, 2019 -- Multiple Myeloma .
More tests were run after that to verify the diagnosis. A PET scan was done to have a look at the bone lesions in her skeleton. The doctors told us her chest "lit up all over" with lesions. After having some issues with her kidney function being low and needing a blood transfusion, she was kept in the hospital until August 11, 2019 -- spending 9 days there mostly unable to get out of bed. Her kidneys were struggling because they were working overtime trying to get rid of the extra protein in her system.
Multiple Myeloma is also known as bone cancer. Basically, the marrow in my mom's bones is continuously making a protein that's not needed and flooding the marrow making it unable to make new blood cells. This causes a low blood count and can result in anemia, which leads to the patient needing a blood transfusion. Thankfully, she only needed two transfusions during her earliest days of treatment.
Asking for help has never come easy to anyone in our family, so putting this out there and asking friends and family and complete strangers for help is overwhelming and incredibly hard to do. Carol is still a mom and is more worried about my stress than her own battle right now, so I want to do what I can to take that off her plate. I want my mom to get through this last leg of her treatment without needing to worry about anything except healing. Any donation will make a world of difference in helping to keep stress at a minimum and allow us, but more so her, to focus on healing and recovery. Again, thank you for all of your help and support!
Organizer
Nicole Burrows
Organizer
Windsor Locks, CT