Hello. My name is Kristen and it’s been a rough year for me. On September 29, I had an unexplainable incident that caused me to break my dominant wrist. I was immediately out of work for 8 weeks and my bills started to pile up. I couldn’t wait to get back to work and get back on my feet again. I was back for just one week when I woke up one morning feeling unable to breathe and the entire inside of my mouth was incredibly swollen, so much that I went directly to the emergency room of St. Anne’s Hospital. They were quick at installing an IV and administered antibiotics to reduce the swelling while they ran some routine bloodwork. I was there around 3 hours when the bloodwork came back and the ER doctor came and told me that the bloodwork revealed that I had leukemia and they needed to transfer me to Rhode Island Hospital immediately. I could hardly believe what was happening to me. I have been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, which is a rare and extremely aggressive cancer of the blood and bone marrow. It comes without warning and rushes through your bloodstream fast and furious. This type of leukemia requires very aggressive treatment.

I have been in the Oncology ward for a week now and am still going through a lot of procedures and tests, the worst being a bone marrow biopsy, which has shown me the true meaning of pain. Once the results of the biopsy come back, the oncology team is going to create a 3-step process of aggressive chemotherapy for 7 days at a time. I will be living here in this room until sometime late in January. I will miss Christmas and New Year’s, but that’s okay.

I guess I’m opening this GoFundMe page because I’m terrified. I obviously had to quit my job and it was made clear to me that the rent is due regardless of my situation, along with the other financial obligations that we all have: car insurance, cell phone service, etc. Not to mention that I have no idea what my health insurance is going to cover and what I will owe for this.

I guess I am hoping that someone can help me just a little bit out of the kindness of your heart. I know it’s a tough time of year and money may be tight, so sharing this with others would also mean the world to me.

Thank you for reading this and may God bless you and your family.