Support My Mom Kathy’s Acute Myeloid Leukemia Diagnosis.

My name is Cinder, and my mother, Kathy, is my whole world. She is the kindest most supportive woman I know, and now she needs help and support with her leukemia diagnosis. We both are originally from Grays Harbor county in Washington state. I decided to move to New York in 2015 and she was willing to come with me. She has always supported me in every way she knew how. I wanted to buy my own house and she was willing to move in and help me with the down payment. When I quit drinking almost 3 years ago so did she. She has always been there no matter what.

Growing up, my mom was always taking care of and thinking of others, both for work and just because. She worked in the school cafeteria. She was a veterinary technician. She was a CNA and took care of people in need. She cleaned houses for some of our elderly neighbors. She even donated school clothes and supplies to families in our town. She just has a huge heart and would do anything for anyone even just listen if someone needed to be heard.

On August 16th, 2024, my mother was admitted to Rochester General Hospital. Over the previous month, she had been suffering from flu-like symptoms, severe pain, and fatigue. She was running a fever and was very lightheaded. She could not keep anything down and could barely stand up. She came into the Emergency Room with tachycardia and a high fever. Once her blood results came in, we learned she had about half of the blood she should. They started a blood transfusion and two hematologists informed us it looked like Leukemia and she was going to be staying in the hospital.

Over the next 48 hours we learned she had sepsis, she was having trouble breathing, was in severe pain, and had a rash all over her body. She received CT scans, a bone marrow biopsy, multiple MRIs, and was tested for viral, bacterial, and fungal infections. She was seen by an infectious disease specialist, multiple hematologists, a dermatologist, pulmonologist, and assigned a palliative care physician. She was officially diagnosed with TP53 mutated Acute Myeloid Leukemia and started chemotherapy on August 20, 2024. They found scarring on her lungs and believe it to be pulmonary fibrosis. She also has a synovial cyst pushing on the nerve of her L5 and what looks like an old compression fracture. They have her on multiple antibiotics, anti-virals, anti-fungals, pain medication, and chemotherapy. They did 5 days IV chemotherapy and have her on Venetoclax orally.

She is receiving blood transfusions regularly and platelets as needed. Unfortunately, the TP53 cell mutation with AML has a poor prognosis and long term remission is unlikely.

After treatment, she is going to come home and will need help while she builds strength and navigates the next steps of this cancer journey. I am her only child and she lives alone. I am able to take FMLA from the Post Office but unfortunately our union contract does not cover any form of paid family leave. I currently pay her mortgage as she is on Social Security and she pays the rest of her bills. All of our family is in Washington State. Some of our family is flying in from Washington state to visit and help. Unfortunately, after our family returns home to Washington we will need to find some help or I will need to take my unpaid FMLA to help take care of her.

Any funds donated will be used towards giving my mother the best care possible. It will help with medical costs and any other unexpected medical related expenses that come up. If you made it this far, thanks for reading our story and please share or donate.