I never thought there would be a day that I had to sit down and write about one of my immediate family members being diagnosed with cancer. But on June 7, 2024, my mother Tammie Hudgins was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) which is a rare blood/bone marrow cancer. Her oncologist told our family that MDS could develop into Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is determined by 20% or higher percentage of blasts (cancer) in the bone marrow. Her oncologist told us that my mom's percentage of blasts was almost at 20 percent, so she believed that the MDS had developed into AML. Her oncologist stated that the only treatment for the cancer was a bone marrow transplant which is a major medical procedure that can be physically and emotionally demanding.

We were referred to a bone marrow transplant specialist with UMMC, and met with her on June 11, 2024. Her specialist confirmed that my mom had MDS, but she stated that she did not believe that her MDS had developed into AML, but her blast percentage was very close to the AML level. During this appointment, my mom's specialist decided that she did not want to put my mom through intensive chemo based on her previous health history. It was decided that my mom would go through in-patient chemo at UMMC in Jackson for four days every four weeks with the goal of decreasing her blasts to the point that she could go through a transplant.

A home health nurse comes to see my mom twice a week to clean her PICC line and take her blood. Because of the cancer she needs blood and platelet transfusions at different intervals in Jackson. There have been multiple times where her blood levels reached critically low levels. She went through two rounds of chemo in June and July and had her second appointment with her specialist on August 22, 2024.

During this visit we were told that they found a bone marrow donor that matched my mom, but they had to verify that the donor was healthy enough to donate. My mom's specialist decided to continue the treatment plan and was hopeful that she would only need to complete one more round of chemo with a potential transplant date on October 3, 2024. During this appointment we learned more details about the transplant process, which would involve at least a month stay at UMMC with a week of intensive chemo. After the transplant she would need to be in isolation to protect her compromised immune system and it could take up to a year for her immune system to work as well as it should.

My mom then had her third round of chemo in September followed by her second bone marrow biopsy. She had her next appointment with her specialist on October 1, 2024, but unfortunately the results of the biopsy were not what we were hoping for. Her blasts ended up increasing to 22-25 percent, which is within the leukemia range. This is when we learned that her blasts needed to be below five percent for the transplant to occur. We were also told that our donor was not ready to donate for an unknown reason.

Her specialist still didn't feel comfortable saying that mom had leukemia, but decided to treat her as if she had leukemia. The specialist decided to have mom go through one more in-patient chemo which started on October 3, 2024, combined with a 21 day pill called Venetoclax which is used to treat adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, small lymphocytic lymphoma, or acute myeloid leukemia. After the pill is finished, mom will have another bone marrow biopsy to reassess her blast percentage and meet with her specialist.

I decided to create this GoFundMe to help support all the costs that come with battling a disease like cancer. These costs include potential medical bills, travel costs, lost income, and hotel stays. Our families travel costs include Mom and Dad driving from Kosciusko to Jackson, Heather driving from the Mississippi coast to Jackson and Kosciusko, and my travel whether driving or flying from Northern Virginia to Mississippi. Multiple people have been so kind to drive mom to her appointments in Jackson when dad is unable to, and our family wants to make sure we adequately reimburse their time and travel costs. Additionally, multiple people have driven my mom's mother who lives with my parents to her medical appointments. My dad no longer has any employees at his business and fully runs it by himself. We are expecting a significant loss of his income from the amount of time he will need to close his business and declining new work. Lastly we expect that we will have lengthy hotel stays in Jackson during the transplant. Our family cannot thank our local community, church, and family enough for all the support and help that has already been provided to this point. It is truly a blessing to see how much mom and our family is loved by our surrounding community.