Help Tracy's fight against Leukemia
Tracy has always been a lover of hot rods and motorcycles. He has worked his whole life dreaming to own a Harley Davidson. At the age of 55, he was finally able to achieve his dream by selling a few belongings. The day he went to the Harley Davidson shop and purchased his used Soft tail, named “Josephine”, was one of the happiest days of his life.
On May 26, 2015, Tracy was riding his Harley around his mother’s hometown of Cumberland, MD when a car ran a red light crashing into him. He was taken to the local emergency room and treated for wounds and damages to his legs. In the months to follow, he continued treatment with an orthopaedic surgeon. Tracy was being worked-up by the physician for arthroscopic surgery on his damaged knee. He had basic diagnostic testing in the process, including blood work.
February 13, 2017, Tracy’s mother’s birthday, was a seemingly normal day. Tracy had spent time with his mother, celebrating her birthday, and then went home to get ready for work. He was on his way to work when he received a troubling call: The medical assistant working with his orthopaedic surgeon called stating the results of his labs were abnormal and that he needed to go to an emergency room immediately. Tracy went to the emergency room thinking there must be a mistake, figuring it would be a quick visit and he would be released. Further work-up indicated that Tracy had leukemia. The diagnosis was shocking and heart wrenching for him and his family. Tracy had been in the hospital for several days already with none of his own personal belongings. The doctor scheduled him to be immediately transported to University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, MD, where they specialize in treating leukemia.
Since February 13th, Tracy has received multiple rounds of chemotherapy in hopes of destroying the leukemia. He has had many bone marrow aspirations, which require painful drilling into the pelvis to extract his stem cells for testing. Further testing indicated that he has a specific type of leukemia called AML – Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Tracy has a gene mutation that causes his leukemia to be more aggressive than other types. AML can hide on diagnostic testing and can outsmart treatments. It is one of the hardest types of leukemia to treat. His best treatment option is a bone marrow transplant. This procedure involves a donor providing young blood cells (stem cells) to be transplanted into Tracy’s system. Before he can receive these cells, his body has to undergo the most aggressive chemotherapy and radiation offered to knock out his immune system and blood cells. The hope is that he will receive the new, healthy blood cells and that his body will accept them and allow them to form into mature, non-cancerous blood cells. This procedure requires Tracy to be hospitalized for over 1 month and to live in Baltimore, MD for a minimum of 100 days with a caregiver. He will have to pay for housing, food, and travel for not only himself but also for a caregiver. These costs are in addition to the significant medical costs acquired by his treatments.
Any donations, no matter how much, would be an enormous blessing to Tracy and his family. Even if it is in the form of a prayer, or sharing this with your friends. Thank you for taking the time to read and share.
