As many of you know, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in May of 2022. After 3 relapses and 15 months of treatment, I was finally able to have my Stem Cell Transplant on August 10, 2023. In order to get the transplant, I had to travel down to Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis, MO. They have a boatload of clinical trials for all different types of Leukemia and I qualified for one of the transplant trials.

Recovery from a transplant of this nature takes a lot of time. I'm currently living in my best friend's basement in Illinois with my animals and my mom. I have to remain in isolation for the first 100 days post-transplant (I'm at day +51 at the time of writing this) because I'm essentially a new born baby with a brand new immune system growing inside of me. I see the oncologist twice a week for bloodwork and any necessary transfusions or infusions (blood, platelets, etc.). I'll have another bone marrow biopsy on Day +100 to make sure the cancer is still gone and my cells are still those of my donor. Up until now, my insurance was covering everything as if I was in-network.

Unfortunately my work made the decision to change our insurance plans this year, and this puts me in a pretty big bind. My new plan doesn't offer out-of-state coverage, it will all be treated as out-of-network, and that deductible is $20,000. There's no out-of-pocket max for anything that's out-of-network. I have to remain at Siteman for care until probably mid-December, at which point I'll return to MN and resume care with my regular oncologist.

Most of us don't have 20 grand lying around. I know I don't. I don't ask for help unless it's needed and in this case, it is needed. I will be exploring financial assistance from the hospital and through organizations like Be the Match and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but the new insurance starts on October 1, and that means that I'll likely have to start paying out-of-pocket costs at my next appointments. My goal is set to $30,000 to help cover anything above the $20K that could come up. Anything that remains leftover will go toward costs when I get back home.

I am beyond grateful for any help that you can give, whether that's through a donation or sharing this with your networks.