Help Katie During Her Leukemia Clinical Trial

My sister, Katie, was diagnosed in 2019 with a rare form of leukemia called T-Cell Large Granular Lymphocytic Leukemia. At this time there is no known cure.

After being hospitalized for two weeks during the diagnosis, she started a journey of many different medications and procedures in an attempt to ease the symptoms and slow the progression of the disease, including having her spleen removed in 2020. After three failed chemo therapies, she traveled to a new Leukemia Specialist at the Mayo Clinic who gave her three options: hope to get in to a clinical trial, start a very damaging in-hospital chemo which is non-curative, or get on the list for a bone marrow transplant.

Katie had HLA typing done to see if there are currently any matches in the system for a bone marrow donor. A bone marrow transplant is considered a “last ditch effort” and is a very dangerous procedure. Miraculously, Katie got a call from the Virginia Cancer Specialists in Fairfax, VA and will be traveling this month to begin the procedure to enter a phase 1 clinical trial called DR-01 that uses monoclonal antibodies to attach to the cancerous cells and destroy them. Although this trial has not yet been tested in humans, it is the least damaging of options left and Katie is excited and grateful to be a part of furthering research to find a cure for LGL leukemia.

This trial consists of cycles, in which Katie will have to travel multiple times monthly to Virginia and be monitored. At this time, the pharmaceutical company funding the trial will not be providing financial compensation for travel/lodging, which is a huge expense given the distance and number of visits she will need to make. Katie is a single mother of two beautiful children and works as much as possible as a substitute teacher while fighting this disease which often leaves her extremely fatigued, sick, or hospitalized. Any help towards making sure she is able to get to and from her treatments would be greatly appreciated, as the expense on top of already expensive doctor visits and medications is more than enough for one person to handle on their own.

Being a part of this ground breaking clinical trial could lead to a new standard of care for people battling leukemia and possibly lead to a cure so it would mean a lot if we could make this possible.

Thanks so much.