My mother, Joyce, was in remission from Acute Myeloid Leukemia for six years. Unfortunately, this September, her cell counts plummeted and a bone marrow biopsy found that the leukemia had relapsed.

Her hematologist at Sloan Kettering started her on a targeted treatment with the goal of putting the leukemia back in remission. She currently depends on two blood and platelet transfusions every week to keep her alive until the treatment can start taking effect, which could be weeks or months.

Last week, Joyce was driving to an appointment at Sloan Kettering when a driver ran the light outside the hospital and crashed into the side of her car. She was taken to a local ER, where they found five broken ribs and internal bleeding and rushed her to the trauma center at Jersey Shore Medical Center for specialized care. She spent two days in the ICU getting medications and transfusions to stabilize her.

Joyce made it home from the hospital, but the challenges continue. She has a lot of pain from the broken ribs and has trouble getting around the house. Her insurance requires a 20% copay for the hospital stay, something we can’t afford right now, as I’ve taken an unpaid leave of absence from work to manage her care and we don’t have enough money coming in to cover all our expenses. She still needs two blood tests and two transfusions a week, and without a car, her weekly transportation costs are $600–800. We’re working with Sloan Kettering to arrange funding for her transportation, but until that is approved, we need help getting her to her life-sustaining transfusions.

Joyce’s hematologist is confident that the leukemia can be brought under control again. We just need to get through the transportation and insurance challenges brought on by the car crash. She’s in a lot of pain but is determined to overcome her injuries and keep fighting the cancer.