Linda Baker

Hello, my name is Chrissy Reber. Many of you know that Linda Baker has been like a mother to me since I was 8 years old. She has taken care of me for the last 32 years through everything I have been through in my life. So now, it is my turn to do the same in return for her. She has devoted the last 34 years to teaching both third and second grades at Governor Mifflin.

The 2022-2023 school year has been anything but easy for her. In November she needed to have surgery on her foot and spent 3 months at home recovering from that. If you know her, that wasn’t easy and she was eager to return to her second graders in January.

Since Linda’s return to school on January 9th after her foot surgery, she has been sick off and on and in the ER multiple times. Regardless of countless tests, there were no answers. After the last ER visit on February 5, they thought she had mono. Her blood tests showed she had an elevated white blood cell count. This was concerning to her doctors. On Thursday, February 9th she was sent to a hematologist/oncologist where they told her they thought she had leukemia.

On Friday, February 10th, Linda was admitted to the Hospital of the University of Penn where she had a bone marrow biopsy done to determine what type of leukemia she had.

On Sunday, February 12th, the doctors told her that she has acute myeloid leukemia which is the more aggressive kind and requires immediate treatment. She will need aggressive chemotherapy that requires her to stay at HUP and following chemo she will need a bone marrow transplant. She will need a bone marrow donor. This person should be 40 or younger, but you will need to be matched to her. I am asking any of you that are 40 or younger to consider doing the test to see if you are a match for her. It is a simple cheek swab. It is free and the test can be sent to your home. If you are willing to do this please let me know. The website is http://bethematch.org You join the registry and the kit will be shipped to you.

Linda will not be returning to school this year and this is also going to force her into early retirement. At some point, they will need financial help with medical bills and their regular bills, so I am starting a GoFundMe for them. Right now the priority is finding a bone marrow donor match.

As you can imagine, this is devastating news for Linda and our family. This all happened so quickly and she really needs the support of our entire Mustangs Nation and all of our friends and family right now. This will be a difficult journey but she will make it through this with the support of all of you.