Hi there. My name is Nikki and for the last 7 years, I've been fighting Mantle Cell Lymphoma. I was in remission since Nov. 2022 but still on my maintenance Treatment when I started feeling unwell this October. My blood levels had dropped significantly to critical levels and my doctors didn't know why. I ended up having numerous platelet and blood transfusions and finally got the bone marrow biopsy I had to wait weeks for by going to the ER and getting admitted so that they would do it for me.

The results were not what I was expecting. I thought it was round three of MCL but instead, it came back as Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

I've been in the hospital since 12/6 and the treatment plan is still up in the air due to very slow testing but they redid the bone marrow biopsy yesterday in order to run the tests in house now that I'm at a cancer center.

I'm looking at weeks, if not months of treatments and time off work. Chemo and stem cell are what's currently being discussed. I've been lucky in the past to be able to get LLS grants to help pay for copays and insurance premiums but, unfortunately, nothing is available at this time and there are no guarantees something will open up, so I am looking for help.

I hate to ask because I know times are tough everywhere but anything anyone can spare is greatly appreciated. I'm still working on getting disability started but that won't cover everything I'm going to be needing to pay including my full insurance premiums, the deductible and out of pocket max on my insurance that starts over 1/1 and current bills I already had including my mortgage and household bills. Staying in the hospital getting these procedures is very expensive. I had about 3 hours notice that I was being admitted so I had no time to plan for anything. I basically just left my house not knowing for how long.

Sorry for the long story but thank you for making it to the end if you did.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.