Help Brian Jett and his family.

Text taken right from Brian.

I have been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Here is the Story...

So I want to talk about my crazy week. About a month ago, I started feeling really tired and fatigued. I also started noticing a few bruises, big and small, that I had and no idea how I got them. So last Thursday, I noticed a few more on my arm and let my wife Katie know about it. She called my doctor and the sent me to get some blood work done. So I went on Friday of last week. They found that my Red Blood Count and Platelets were fairly low. I received a call from the Nurse, telling me they were referring me to a hematologist. A few hours after that call, I received another phone call after hours from my PC Doctor. She said they looked at my blood under the microscope and saw leukemia cells in my blood. She made my referral a urgent one and told me to expect a call on Monday. I received the call and had an appointment with the hematologist scheduled for next Monday.

When I got to work on Tuesday, I just didn’t feel right at all. I text Katie about it and she called the doctor. The doctor said they wanted me to go to the emergency room to get checked out. They took my blood and called my hematologist with the results. She determined with the results that it looked very much like it was leukemia and wanted me transferred to Grand Rapids. I was in the the Mercy Hospital emergency room for close to 14 hours, when they finally transferred me to Saint Mary’s Hosptial in Grand Rapids.

Wednesday Morning, they preformed a Bone Marrow Biopsy to determine if it was actually leukemia like they thought. After a day and a half of waiting, I received a phone call from my doctor, telling me that I have AML, or Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

I am waiting for the doctor to come in today to see what the game plan is for fighting it. She did tell me that it is going to be a 7&3 Chemotherapy treatment. So that means 7 days straight of chemo, with the first 3 days having another drug added to help wipe out my bone marrow and all the good/bad cells. After treatment I will have to get blood transfusions. The doctor told me I’m going to be in the hospital for at least a month. It’s has really taken a toll on my family and friends.

I am going to have to go an entire month, if not longer without seeing my 3 kids. I’m not going to be able to see any of their soccer games. I won’t see my baby girl for an entire month, and it scares me that when I’m finally able to go home, she won’t remember who I am. I’m worried for my wife also, because she has been a stay at home mom for over a year, taking care of our children. Now that I’m here, she won’t have the additional help taking care of them.

So that’s the story. It’s going to be a long, rough ride. But I got this. With my family and friends support, I got this!

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.