Hi, my name is Ashley and I am fundraising for my mother Jacqui whom was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in June 2025.
Jacqui, Terry and Samuel moved to Old Bar NSW from the Central Coast NSW in 2021 for a change to a quieter city, Jacqui worked as a Registered Nurse locally, Terry self-employed works for Five Star Pool Renovations and Samuel attends the local school. They were enjoying life, making the most of every single day and to say were we all blind sighted for what happened next is a complete understatement. No one could have prepared anyone for the journey Jacqui was about to embark on.
Beginning at the end of March Mum began to experience a series of symptoms that at the time were not concerning, as this was normal; leg cramps that would not cease, wounds that were not healing and were getting worse rather than getting better.
The cramps in the legs are what were the most concerning, mum had made a doctors appointment with her doctor to discuss the concerns, the doctor ordered her a blood test immediately to cover all basis before making a definitive diagnosis , thinking nothing abnormal would come up and it was simply low iron or low magnesium she went about her life as normal.
8th of June 2025 - This was the day that our worlds got turned upside down, Jacqui was out with Terry and Samuel in town as they normally would be doing, Jacqui receives a phone call, its the laboratory calling about her blood results, they inform her that it's important to make her way down to Calvary Mater Newcastle as she needs to have a bone marrow biopsy, Jacqui still unbeknownst to her asks if it can be done tomorrow but the urgency was too great and it needed to be done that day. Then came the time to sit and wait for the results to come in.
June 9th Diagnosis day: The dreaded diagnosis day and results are in, Jacqui is receives a phone call from the laboratory confirming the results but she needs to come back down to Calvary Mater to discuss the results. Jacqui, Terry and Samuel make their 4 hour long trip and arrive at the hospital, the doctor takes them all into the family room and nothing good ever comes of that, Jacqui is informed of her bone marrow biopsy and the cause of all the symptoms; Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
Immediately the doctor informs Jacqui that she will need to leave work and begin treatment as soon as possible for the best possible outcome, if left untreated within 3-6 months she would die. Our lives totally turned upside down on this day and there was no choice in the matter in pursuing treatment.
Jacqui was informed at the beginning of her diagnosis and due to her sub-type that she was require a Bone Marrow Transplant in October-November. At the very beginning they started to test the immediate family to find a potential match, thankfully my mother has two wonderful sisters that immediately put their hand up to be tested for a potential match, as I did myself.
The testing began, simply a blood test for tissue typing and making sure the match is confirmed. Late in September results are in one sister is 50%, daughter 50% and the other sister was 100% confirmed match and the donor that would save Jacqui's life, no words can ever express the gratitude my entire family feels for such a generous act.
We knew that there would be a long hospital stay as Jacqui would need to have Induction Chemotherapy which is x3 days of intense Chemotherapy over the course of a week and 3 weeks to recover and let Haemoglobin, Platelets and Neutrophils rise again. 25th of June this began and finished 30th of June.
Jacqui went home for two weeks after she was cleared by the doctors and returned the hospital on the 6th of August for a bone marrow biopsy to see the cells activity and to our surprise the first round of Chemotherapy had put her in remission less than 1% cancer cells detected - This was on track for the plan that was laid out in the beginning.
August 9th 2025 - Round 2 of Chemotherapy was set to begin soon, consolidation Chemotherapy; two bags of chemotherapy over the course of 3 days and then 3 weeks recovery at home once levels were on the rise; this would continue two more times, the time spent at home in September was longer than anticipated and was set to be until the 27th of October when Jacqui would go back to hospital for Conditioning Chemotherapy before the Stem Cell Transplant.
The conditioning chemotherapy's goal is to wipe out any cancer cells that may have formed in the short period of time where Jacqui was at home waiting for more news on the next steps in her treatment plan.
This is a very intense chemotherapy that occurs over 5 days to wipe out all of the bone marrow to make way for the donor cells to engraft, but in doing so this kills all of the other good cells in the body. This chemotherapy has Jacqui neutropenic and unable to fight any infection without intervention from the hospital.
November 6th 2025 - Bone Marrow Transplant day, a simple infusion just like receiving blood. For the first week after Jacqui was well, drinking and eating, the next week was not as kind and like with any transplant there is always going to be the potential for complications, mucositis is a very common occurrence after a Stem Cell Transplant, because the lining of the intestines are weakened it allows bacteria that normally cannot travel to move throughout the body but the severity is never known. Mucositis is normal but getting a very severe case is not and as Jacqui doesn't have any neutrophils or platelets her body is unable to fight any infection without medical intervention.
November 21st 2025 - Jacqui is moved to an ICU Respiratory ward as the mucositis is a severe case, she cannot get oxygen and she is unable to swallow, a code blue is called and everyone is all hands on deck to save her life, her throat was blocked with mucus and because of this was making breathing difficult. I cannot thank the doctors enough for once again saving her life. Jacqui stays in the ICU for 2 weeks where she is closely monitored.
November 30th 2025 - Jacqui is moved back to the Leukaemia ward where they continue to monitor her condition. Jacqui is not recovering as quickly as anticipated and doctors confirm that her Central Line that was used to infuse the stem cells has an infection and the antibiotics that are being used are not reaching the infection, the decision is made to remove the Central line and reinsert a Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter to remove the infection, the infection remains in her body but a stronger antibiotic is being used to treat the infection and once neutrophils start to rise Jacqui will begin to recover.
As you can imagine being diagnosed so abruptly has turned all our lives upside down, Jacqui had no choice but to begin treatment and stop working which she was doing up until she received her diagnosis, she is currently in Westmead Hospital 4 hours away from her family, which makes it difficult to constantly have the support but praise Facetime for being a thing and allowing us all to communicate throughout this whole ordeal.
This fundraiser is to simply raise funds for wage loss due to this diagnosis, funds for the foreseeable future as Jacqui will not be able to return to her normal work for an indefinite amount of time and to make life easier for my wonderful father that has been mum and dad to a nine year old son and keeping the whole family afloat during this devastating time.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart and my family does as well for the support we have received and I hope this finds everyone well. I understand that times are tough for everyone and if you are unable to donate a share would suffice greatly.
Much love to all x