Help Shawn Fight Rare Lymphoma and Leukemia

This family is extremely close to my heart. They are experiencing what I could not even imagine going through. Please see below for Shawn's story.

Going to have story time here for a second….

Almost four years ago in March 2021, Shawn was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma. It was a long 2 years before the first chemotherapy regimen stopped working in December 2023. At this point he was referred to Cleveland Clinic where he started a new treatment in January 2024. It started off great and he was feeling better and was able to work more. Until October came, and he started declining and we realized the second chemotherapy was not responding either. At that time he was hospitalized in Cleveland Clinic for two weeks while they figured it out. He had multiple tests and scans and they would also find that his spleen is doubled in size than it should be. He would then have a bone marrow biopsy where they discovered the new diagnosis of T-CELL Large Granular Lymphocytic Leukemia. Once given steroids and other medications, his fevers and headaches were controlled and they would discharge him. It only lasted for a week being home before he would go into his check up in Cleveland on the 4th of November and the doctor said he is not well and needed to be admitted again, this time not as long but he was still miserable. His oncologist has referred him to the Cancer center at Ohio State, where he will hopefully get on a clinical trial for treatment, in hopes that he can get back to living a somewhat normal life.

With Shawn unable to work, Nichole took a medical leave to help him with his everyday needs and taking him to his appointments and driving back and forth to Cleveland while he was hospitalized to take care of the house and kids. Times have gotten tough.

Nichole and Shawn were traveling to OSU twice a week for treatment and the financial burdens of both not working are weighing on them. If anyone deserves help this family does. Anything helps, even just a share or prayers.

Current update on Shawn recently:

On the night of Sunday, February 16th I had to take him back to the hospital down at OSU. He was having really bad fevers that, even Tylenol wasn’t taking care of. The pain he was feeling was unbearable for him, he was exhausted from no sleep because of having the chills and then a fever to follow. Also with a persistent cough, which told me his hemoglobin was low. So, in my eyes, that warranted a trip to be evaluated by the doctors.

It really started on Thursday at his infusion appointment, where he received two units of blood and a unit of platelets, at which point his fever started and was given tylenol and benydryl in case of a reaction from the transfusions. Now it was time for his infusion of his medicine. It was 20 minutes in of his infusion and his fever still have not gone away. At this point they decided he could not get his treatment and we waited for his fever to subside. So we went home and he was good the next day and we got to spend Valentine’s Day together and it was great and Saturday he made a wonderful breakfast for us all. That afternoon he started to decline and went all downhill from there.

Remember when I posted the last update and it was good news? Well, his platelets started to drop, so he went from 70 at the end of January, to 9 on Sunday in the ER. Which means he is no longer eligible for the clinical trial. They did two CT scans in the ER, one with contrast and one without. They found that there is some kind of infection in his lung that was presenting as pneumonia, but it wasn’t pneumonia (if that makes sense). So they did a bronchoscopy on Thursday to do a flush out of his lungs and take samples to determine what kind of infection it is and to be able to give the proper antibiotics to treat it. On top of this, his HLH started to flare up and his number were going wonky because of the HLH and LGL.

So, they have him on a couple antibiotics that are strong, to help maybe get ahold of whatever infection he has. Being immunocompromised, he is more susceptible to infections.

This just feels like a huge setback for him because we had the hopes of the trial getting him back to the man he was and possibly going back to work. So, right now the trial is off the table, and the reason for that is because his numbers just cannot stay stable. Since that option of treatment has been taken off the table, others have been added and the doctor will determine what will treat his LGL.

He needs all the prayers he can get. I do believe they worked last time and I believe they will still work now too. It is tough for him being away from his family, I travel down there almost everyday to be there for him. We appreciate all the love and support from ALL of our family and friends. I will update more once we have more information.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the continued prayers

If you can help please do ❤️