Funds For Frank
Donation protected
Franks’ Story
Hi my name is Dari Ramirez and Frank is my Husband and this is his story.
Frank is a loving Husband, Father and Grandfather. He worked hard all his life to provide for his family and have a roof over our head. At the age of 70 he just recently decided to cut back on working and find a part time job.
About a year ago Frank started having back pains. As in the past whenever he had back pain he went to a chiropractor to try to alleviate the pain. And in the past the pain would go away after several sessions but this time is hung around and started to get worse. I took him to the Emergency Care facility near us and they took X-rays but did not find anything so prescribed pain medication and said to follow up with his Primary Care Doctor. He did a follow up with his Primary who prescribed some more pain medication and muscle relaxers.
By January, his back pain seemed to get worse and he was unable to sleep lying down so slept sitting up on the couch. He was unable to get up and down out of a chair without help and had an extremely hard time going up and down stairs. After going around and around to Doctors, the ER, chiropractors and acupuncturists, he asked his primary for an MRI. The MRI showed he had (6) compression fractures along his spine.
His Primary sent him to a back specialist and to an Oncologist. We were in shock … to an Oncologist?? OMG ... the Big “C” word floating around in our heads … All parties ran tests and scans and we made follow up appointments.
The end of January, and before we made it to the follow up appointments, Frank was unable to breath and was in such pain I took him to the ER at St. Anthony’s North Hospital and they admitted him. During their testing and in speaking with all parties involved, the Hospital Doctor came back to us with “Frank you have been diagnosed with Myeloma”! What!! No!! What … Melanoma??? No, it’s called Multiple Myeloma. We’ve never heard of it!!
What is Multiple Myeloma?
Multiple Myeloma is a type of blood cancer that affects plasma cells. In Multiple Myeloma, malignant plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow, crowding out the normal plasma cells that help fight infection. These malignant plasma cells then produce an abnormal antibody called M protein, which offers no benefit to the body and may cause tumors, kidney damage, bone destruction, and impaired immune function. Multiple Myeloma typically displays the most activity in bone marrow, which affects both the marrow and the bones in the spine, pelvic bones, ribs, shoulders, and hips, leading to bone pain, thinning and broken bones.
So needless to say Frank is in treatment with includes, of course, (2) types of Chemotherapy along with Steroids. In June he was supposed to undergo Autologous Stem Cell Treatment, which we hoped would put him into remission. Unfortunately his Myeloma blood count went back up so they started on a different Chemo treatment. He has run into few problems with osteonecrosis from pulled tooth and a lung infection but we are hoping for full recovery of these issues so we can attempt the Stem Cell Treatment again.
Dear friends and family … As everybody has read and recently heard on the news, Big Pharma is pretty proud of their drugs and Chemo drugs are even more ridiculous. You know Frank as a very proud man and hardly ever asks anybody for help but we are now in a bit of a desperate situation and are hoping you can find it in your hearts to help him out, if only a little.
Thank you for your kindness in helping Frank with his fight against this nasty disease.
Love,
Dari Ramirez
Hi my name is Dari Ramirez and Frank is my Husband and this is his story.
Frank is a loving Husband, Father and Grandfather. He worked hard all his life to provide for his family and have a roof over our head. At the age of 70 he just recently decided to cut back on working and find a part time job.
About a year ago Frank started having back pains. As in the past whenever he had back pain he went to a chiropractor to try to alleviate the pain. And in the past the pain would go away after several sessions but this time is hung around and started to get worse. I took him to the Emergency Care facility near us and they took X-rays but did not find anything so prescribed pain medication and said to follow up with his Primary Care Doctor. He did a follow up with his Primary who prescribed some more pain medication and muscle relaxers.
By January, his back pain seemed to get worse and he was unable to sleep lying down so slept sitting up on the couch. He was unable to get up and down out of a chair without help and had an extremely hard time going up and down stairs. After going around and around to Doctors, the ER, chiropractors and acupuncturists, he asked his primary for an MRI. The MRI showed he had (6) compression fractures along his spine.
His Primary sent him to a back specialist and to an Oncologist. We were in shock … to an Oncologist?? OMG ... the Big “C” word floating around in our heads … All parties ran tests and scans and we made follow up appointments.
The end of January, and before we made it to the follow up appointments, Frank was unable to breath and was in such pain I took him to the ER at St. Anthony’s North Hospital and they admitted him. During their testing and in speaking with all parties involved, the Hospital Doctor came back to us with “Frank you have been diagnosed with Myeloma”! What!! No!! What … Melanoma??? No, it’s called Multiple Myeloma. We’ve never heard of it!!
What is Multiple Myeloma?
Multiple Myeloma is a type of blood cancer that affects plasma cells. In Multiple Myeloma, malignant plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow, crowding out the normal plasma cells that help fight infection. These malignant plasma cells then produce an abnormal antibody called M protein, which offers no benefit to the body and may cause tumors, kidney damage, bone destruction, and impaired immune function. Multiple Myeloma typically displays the most activity in bone marrow, which affects both the marrow and the bones in the spine, pelvic bones, ribs, shoulders, and hips, leading to bone pain, thinning and broken bones.
So needless to say Frank is in treatment with includes, of course, (2) types of Chemotherapy along with Steroids. In June he was supposed to undergo Autologous Stem Cell Treatment, which we hoped would put him into remission. Unfortunately his Myeloma blood count went back up so they started on a different Chemo treatment. He has run into few problems with osteonecrosis from pulled tooth and a lung infection but we are hoping for full recovery of these issues so we can attempt the Stem Cell Treatment again.
Dear friends and family … As everybody has read and recently heard on the news, Big Pharma is pretty proud of their drugs and Chemo drugs are even more ridiculous. You know Frank as a very proud man and hardly ever asks anybody for help but we are now in a bit of a desperate situation and are hoping you can find it in your hearts to help him out, if only a little.
Thank you for your kindness in helping Frank with his fight against this nasty disease.
Love,
Dari Ramirez
Organizer
Dari Ramirez
Organizer
Thornton, CO
