Julie's Fight Against Leukemia Fund

Hello everyone, my name is Natalie.

I first want to say thank you for visiting this page and supporting my sister, Julie Ngo, who was diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) on October 7, 2016. She is a devoted mother of two young boys, Logan (4) and Conor (2), and wife of Tri Ngo. Please help our loved Julie and our family as we fight the battle of our lives. Julie is currently in the ICU due to a bacterial and viral infection through her picc line. Her high fever and heart rate are being monitored around the clock. All donations will assist with uninsured medical bills, anything you can provide would be useful and greatly appreciated. Even if you cannot provide any financial support, we welcome your prayers and well wishes. Your support and care means the world to us.

This is her story:

In early 2016 Julie noticed strange physical effects; bruising on her legs, lethargic, loss of appetite, and enlarged lymph nodes on her neck. Julie decided to go in for a check and a blood test showed the ugly truth: Leukemia. Julie was admitted that same day to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago to begin treatment.

Since October 2016 Julie has been in and out the hospital for chemotherapy treatment, blood and platelet transfusion, as well as many bone marrow biopsies and lumbar punctures (spinal taps). During her treatment, she was hospitalized on various occasions due to life-threatening infections from being neutropenic. This is a condition where you have very low white blood cell counts, making even the most common infections dangerous.

After battling for many months, in April 2017 she was officially in remission.  Life at home was getting back to normal.  Julie was able to be a mom again and do motherly activities that she wasn't able to when getting treatment. She was once again able to do ordinary things like shopping and spending time with friends; but most importantly spend time with her children.

Unfortunately, this didn’t last long. After 4 months, the cancer came back. Due to Julie’s leukemia coming back in such a short amount of time our family searched a second opinion. We were fortunate enough to connect with a nationally regarded leukemia specialist at Loyola University Hospital. Her next treatment will be a stem cell transplant. Stem cell transplants, or bone marrow transplants, consist of a donor whose stem cell profile matches the recipient’s being transplanted into the patient. This process can be very painful, but it is a necessary step on the road to recovery.

The first step is finding a donor. Siblings have a 25% chance of being a match, and sadly I was not a match.  My sister will continue to get treatment while the hospital searches for a matching donor.  It has been hard for all and she continues to be incredibly strong. For more information on stem cell transplant or becoming a donor, please visit: https://bethematch.org.

We thank you in advance for your prayers, thoughts, support, and your contributions. Julie has an amazing family and community of friends supporting her. And of course, her parents (Nick & Denise) and husband, Tri are with her every step of the way. 

 
We will beat cancer! We are eternally grateful!