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Help Mercy Fight Leukemia

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My fiance and I found out I was pregnant with Mercy after moving to Florida so he could attend medical school here.  We were elated and he was so excited to become a father.  On  May 6, 2016 my fiance was coming home from his shift at the hospital when a car came across the median on the turnpike killing him instantly.  Mercy was born just a few months after that on August 20, 2016.  For the past three years it has just been Mercy and I and she truly has kept me going and is the light of my life. She never was sick a lot as a baby but when she turned two she started getting sick much more often.  I took her to the doctor and for a while we treated each illness as an isolated incident.  Then this summer she got a high fever that we could not explain nor could we get it to go away with medication.  The doctors started running blood work and extensive tests. The second week of school I got the results that Mercy's blood work showed she had Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.  This type of leukemia means it is attacking her blood cells and bone marrow.  It is a rapidly moving cancer and very aggressive.  The doctors explained that they have risk groups: low, standard, high, and very high.  Mercy was initially placed in the high category.  However, because this type of leukemia moves so rapidly she is now in the very high risk group. The doctors are trying numerous treatments and are keeping her in the hospital in Miami full time right now.  As of right now it continues to spread and we are praying for a miracle.  We have spoken to doctors all across the country and have an amazing medical team that consists of doctors from hospitals like John Hopkins, well known children's hospitals around the nation, and St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  We could not have a better team of doctors for Mercy. While the insurance helps a lot it does not cover everything.  With the round the clock hospital care, paying for out of network doctors, the actual treatment cost that is not payed by insurance, and the travel and living expenses in Miami it has become a lot financially on a teacher's salary.  I have always been taught to never rely on other people and to take care of yourself.  I have been trying to do that.  I put my house up for sale to decrease the bills and help with the medical expenses, and have taken on a second job outside of teaching.  I work weeknights until 10:00 pm and all day on the weekends.  I leave right after my second job and make the trip to Miami to spend the nights with Mercy arriving around midnight.  I stay until 4:00 am and then leave for school.  She is worth all of this and more and I would do anything for her. The doctors tell me they are doing everything they can but I may not have much time left with her so I am spending every minute I can with her.  It has been a lot to understand and come to terms with.  I have an amazing family who is by my side through all of this and are doing everything they can to help me.  They live in Alabama so they make the trip as often as possible to be with Mercy and I.   Right now I am taking it day by day.  Sometimes its hour by hour.  I do not know how much time I have left with her so I am focused on cherishing each moment.  The doctors have told me to start thinking about what I need to do both for myself and financially if she doesn't pull through.  That is hard to even comprehend but I am trying to prepare myself for it. I hope this helps in explaining everything that has happened and led to this.  I hate the thought of asking for help.  I try to do so much on my own as I know everyone has something they are going through.  You guys have been amazing with me.  I don't know what will happen over the coming months but I could not have asked for better people to work around to help me through this.

Organizer and beneficiary

Erin Kupillas
Organizer
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Stephanie Pearson
Beneficiary

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