Help David Fight Leukemia

The short version: Our Dad, and our family's Papa, is currently fighting myelodysplastic syndrome-induced leukemia. Next month he begins the hardest, but also most promising, phase of treatment which is a combo of in-patient chemo and radiation followed by a large plasma transfusion. His oncologist is very optimistic that if his body accepts this treatment it's as close to a "cure" as possible and he'll live the rest of his life like this never happened. We’re asking you for any support you might be able to give to help him with the insurance co-pay ($10,000+) and the many additional expenses needed to get him through this.

Any donations and/or shares are greatly appreciated!!



The long version: Hi, my name is Lindsey and I'm fundraising for my Dad (and first-ever best friend), David Markellos. The most wonderful father of 3 and excellent Papa of 6 grandchildren who all adore him.

 

In 2021, our Dad had been trying to find an answer and treatment for a variety of symptoms including fatigue, dizziness, numbness, pain and odd bruising. He was told first that it was the after-effects of the COVID he had that January and then that it was just "normal aging". However, he and his wife (who's also a RN) weren't convinced and she finally got someone to run additional tests.

 

These tests revealed that Dad (who was still very active after retiring in his late 60s, walking his best pal Mookie multiple times every day and golfing whenever possible) wasn't just "getting older" but rather had Myelodysplastic Syndrome which had resulted in Leukemia blasts throughout his blood and bone marrow.

 

He was assigned an oncologist who ran more tests and started him on an aggressive chemo regimen with the goal of reducing the leukemia. It's been months now of weekly chemo and painful bone marrow biopsies. Happily, though he's had to be a hermit at home because of the risk of getting COVID again, the treatment seems to be working and the leukemia blasts have decreased.

 

This is only a short-term solution though. In order to give him the best chance of beating this and sticking around for years to come, he will be checking in a hospital in Boston for a long-term stay in February. During this time he'll have another round of chemo and radiation followed by a transfusion to flush the remaining leukemia out of his blood and bone marrow for good.

 

For this treatment, he'll have to stay in-patient in the hospital in Boston for 3-4 weeks. Then, after discharge, he still has to stay nearby in Boston for daily monitoring for an additional three weeks to watch for complications and rejection. Since he lives in Maine an hour and a half away from the hospital this means booking a hotel for those three weeks.

 

Our Dad has insurance but, even with that, the costs of treatment are high. His co-pay alone for this is over $10,500. The hotel stay is looking to be another $4,000 and it's unclear if insurance will help with ANY of that expense. Then there are the meals during those three weeks, nursing care, additional medical costs after insurance, travel costs, and time off of work for his wife during the treatment and when he's finally home after all of this for as long as he needs assistance.

 

And this treatment is not without risks. Our Dad will be severely immunocompromised in hopes his body won't reject the donor plasma. That's scary any time but especially during our current COVID situation. It is my hope that by raising the funds to address his immediate medical needs, we can relieve some of the stress on him so he can focus on getting better and beating this.

 

Anything you are able to give is so very appreciated. Even just sharing this GoFundMe and getting the word out would be amazing. All funds raised will be going directly to our Dad for his treatment costs. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!