Help Support Carlina Through Terminal Cancer
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Hi everyone,
My name is Alahni and I am Carlina's girlfriend. For those of you who do not know her, Carlina Menjivar was diagnosed with T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, a rare type of cancer, in early June 2021. Since then, she has had 5 rounds of chemo, which unfortunately have not been successful. Her doctors have been exceptionally helpful and did everything they could to help her along the way. Sadly, she has been officially deemed terminal. It’s remains unclear how long she has left to live but she will be transferring into palliative care to ease her pain until her time comes.
We are raising money to fulfil any last wishes she has as well as help with the costs of her funeral to aid her family’s expenses. We are eternally grateful for any contributions anyone can spare. Whether it’s a supportive comment, prayer, or a couple of dollars, all is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your support and stay safe.
If you are interested in the full story of her journey, it will be detailed below. Thank you again.
Carlina's Story
It all started with a cold. It was beginning of June in 2021. We were sitting outside watching a movie, when we noticed Carlina started to cough excessively. This symptom was one she had throughout her cold but this time, her cough seemed a bit off. She immediately ran inside to the washroom and hurled. She not typically one to do this, so we knew that something was wrong. That was the night that we decided that we should call her doctor in the morning to figure out what to do next.
Her doctor recommended that we go to the ER to get some testing done, as her symptoms were synonymous with a gall bladder issue. So off we went to Eagle Ridge Hospital where she was taken for scans to find the problem. Some time later, it was determined that she had a mass near her heart, and she wouldn’t be going home anytime soon.
Later that evening, she was transferred to Royal Columbian Hospital to determine whether her mass was benign or malignant. Over the course of a week, her scans showed fluid around her heart, which was immediately tended to. Her scans were inconclusive, and sent off to Vancouver General Hospital for further assessment. It became clear to them that this mass was malignant and she needed to be transferred to VGH for cancer treatment.
The next step was determining what kind of cancer she had, both leukaemia and lymphoma were on the table, but more scans needed to be done to confirm suspicions. Finally, she was told that she had a rare kind of lymphoma called T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. This cancer was particularly aggressive so treatment needed to start immediately. She was told she good odds being that she was young and healthy.
She was assigned an oncologist who explained how the course of her treatment was going to go. 3 rounds of chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant. Each round of chemo would consist of 3-4 days of drug administration followed by a recovery period until she would be healthy enough for the next round. These rounds would be successive to have the best odds. For the stem cell transplant, she would be able to be her own donor, which was a relief to hear, since donors are hard to come by. The doctor noted that a lack of improvement with each round of chemo would indicate that the next round would be less effective.
The start of her first round caused rough side effects, but her results from it seemed promising. Her recovery was quick and her tumour was responding well to the treatment. This allowed her to start her second round with outpatient care, i.e. going back and forth from home to the hospital for chemo treatments. Recovery was difficult but she continued to push through. The next steps were to prepare to harvest stem cells from another location in her body. Unfortunately, results from her most recent PET scan indicated that her tumour had grown. This meant that they needed another round of chemo before a stem cell transplant, and that she could no longer be her own donor. Her doctor started a heavier dosage of drugs for the next round of chemo while they looked for a potential donor. We then learned that she has unique blood markers due to her Aboriginal heritage, which meant finding a match would be much more difficult.
She was told that the third round of chemo would be the hardest so far so she was re-admitted into the hospital. Recovery took much longer than previous rounds and she felt weaker. During recovery she got more scans which showed that yet again that her tumour was not shrinking. The doctor said that a stem cell transplant was no longer viable, and that chemo was her only option.
The next round of chemo needed to be more aggressive to attack this tumour. They used the strongest drugs that they had and started the fourth round. Unfortunately, her scans showed no improvement. This time they found fluid surrounding her lungs, making it much harder for her to breathe. A tube was inserted into her mid-back to help drain the fluid and improve her ability to breathe. This implied that her doctor had to look elsewhere for a possible treatment. Another drug was found that was specifically meant for her type of cancer. Sadly, the odds at this point were significantly decreased, but she wanted to try anyways.
The beginning of this treatment was deceivingly positive. Her body didn’t feel as weak, and she felt good overall. However, a couple of days into her treatment, her doctor noticed that she had inflamed lymph nodes. This was a clear indication that this treatment was not working. The chemo was halted and she was deemed terminal.
Moving forward, her only option from the hospital is to transfer to palliative care to keep her comfortable for the time she has left. Sadly, it is unknown how long she has, as her cancer is incredibly rare. She continues to fight every single day and hopes for the best.
For more information about T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, please see the link below.
Organizer
Alahni Della-Savia
Organizer
Port Moody, BC
