Help Jerome’s Fight Against Leukemia

My Jerome’s Fight Against Leukemia

My name is Jeff Ison and my younger brother, Jerome Ison, has been battling with Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) since May 2022. Jerome is only 32 years old. He is happily engaged to his fiance, Jennifer, getting ready to spend their lives together. They bought a home in July 2021 and are planning for their wedding in October 2023.

Jerome’s cancer journey first started at his yearly physical and blood work, when they found abnormal white blood cell (WBC) results. A normal WBC ranges from 4,000-11,000, and Jerome’s was 380,000. His doctor then ordered an urgent bone marrow biopsy and the biopsy results confirmed their worst fear, CANCER. He was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in Chronic Phase.

Jerome met with several oncologists and detailed his prognosis. The news was thankfully optimistic. They explained that Jerome could be treated with oral anticancer medication and have minimal side effects for the rest of his life. More so, as Jerome was young and healthy, the doctors proposed a more aggressive oral anticancer medication with the goal to be cancer free and off treatment in 2-3 years. With this promising plan, Jerome started his new anticancer treatment in July 2022. He tolerated treatment with few side effects, so much so that you couldn’t tell that Jerome had a serious illness. He continued working and excitedly planning for his wedding. This gave us hope that he would eventually be cancer free.

However, those good days were soon followed by some bad ones. In September 2022, after 3 months of treatment, he had his first cancer marker test to see if the cancer was going away. Unfortunately, the test revealed a poor response to the treatment. A good response is under 10%, but Jerome’s cancer marker was greater than 50%. To make matters more complicated, his blood platelets dropped so low it was unsafe to even take more anticancer treatment. He encountered more side effects, felt tired, and bruised everywhere because of the low platelets. He needed weekly platelet transfusions to prevent bleeding out. He was off anticancer treatment for a month, meaning more time for the cancer to grow.

To better fight his disease, he switched to a new treatment and continued weekly platelet transfusions. But his platelets continued to stay extremely low. His doctors were confused as to why his platelets wouldn’t improve. If the cancer treatment was working, the platelets would trend upwards, instead they continued dropping. After multiple discussions with his oncologist at Kaiser and UC Davis tumor board, it was agreed that Jerome’s cancer had now worsened and he was now in Accelerated Phase CML. He was now resistant to the anticancer treatment, and his best chance for a cure was a stem cell transplant. This was devastating news as the doctors have avoided the need for a transplant. Transplant is extremely challenging on a patient, requiring hospitalization, harsh chemotherapy, and year long isolation.

In November 2022, Jerome met with the Stanford Bone Marrow Transplant team and also confirmed he would need a stem cell transplant. Jerome would require stem cells from a healthy donor. The process to find a donor would take 2-3 months. The best match would be a sibling, but we learned that I, Jeff, was not a match. The search then expanded to the national donor registry for an unrelated donor. Jerome continued to take his anticancer medication and get platelet and blood transfusions as he waited for the transplant. In December 2022, he did an early cancer marker test that showed the cancer decreased to 11.1%. This was amazing news since this could mean staying on oral anticancer medications and avoiding transplant!

But once again, more bad news came his way. On January 12, 2023, Jerome took his 3 month cancer marker test, and the cancer had increased to 16%. He took the test again on 1/30/23, and it had doubled to 32%. It was evident that a transplant was desperately needed. Finally, after almost 3 months of waiting, a match was identified. He is now ready for the stem cell transplant.

Jerome is now getting multiple tests to prepare for the transplant. He requires a breathing test, echocardiogram, and bone marrow biopsy. As of now, he is scheduled for hospitalization on March 15, 2023. He will go through chemotherapy first, which will destroy the cancer cells and suppress his immune system. On March 22, 2023, he will get the transplant by infusing him with healthy cells from the donor. The hope is that only healthy cells will grow now that the cancer cells are gone. He will be hospitalized for 1 month, possibly longer, until he has enough healthy cells to stay outside of the hospital.

Once he is home, he will need 24/7 care and complete isolation because of his weak immune system. He'll need frequent doctor appointments for at least 3 months, including 3 times a week for the first month. Jerome will require multiple medications and a special diet, all to prevent possible infections. Any infection, like a cold or stomach bug, could put him in the hospital.

Possibly the hardest part of Jerome’s cancer journey will begin next month. Jerome obviously will be unable to work for the next 3 months or even longer. Jennifer, who has been his primary caregiver, will also be unable to work during this time. They will need to rely on disability for their financial needs. On top of this, they have to postpone their upcoming wedding in October 2023 and hope to get their deposits back.

It’s been heartbreaking to see Jerome go through this, after already dealing with previous hardships. Jerome and I lost our father in 2014 and Jennifer lost her mother to pancreatic cancer in 2019. Jerome is a loving family person and friend and would do anything for us. He is hard-working, never asks for help, or wants to trouble anyone with his suffering. He stays positive and hopeful throughout it all.

I’m asking for help as life has been increasingly difficult for Jerome and Jennifer. Those who learned of Jerome’s devastating diagnosis have also asked how they can help. So my family and I set up this GoFundMe for him. We would like to help relieve the financial burdens Jerome and Jennifer are and will be facing. They have many challenges ahead of them, so maybe this is one less thing for them to worry about. The money raised will help towards medical expenses or other expenses not covered by insurance that might arise while he is on disability. Anything you can contribute would be greatly appreciated.

We will keep you updated on Jerome as more news comes along. But for now, thank you for taking the time to learn about Jerome’s journey. All the love, prayers, and support mean everything to us right now. We know Jerome can beat this!

Thank you,

Jeff