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With the go-ahead from my daughter, I’m sharing a very personal story...
About a month ago, I discovered the dreaded disease of cancer had touched one of my first true loves and prized possessions. The news that my beautiful young first-born daughter Kelsi was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, was inconceivable. This news came weeks before she was to marry her childhood boyfriend Ely Potter near their home in Olympia, Washington, and months before she positioned herself to graduate from college.
The entire process started when she visited the doctor to explore a small lump in her neck, resulting in the need for surgery to remove her lymph node. The diagnosis came a few days later.
Over the past couple of weeks, Kelsi has been meeting with her her extraordinary medical team at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The oncologists will be proceeding with a fairly aggressive chemotherapy regimine (abvd), as Kelsi has a large "mediastinal mass" in her chest. She has a tumor made of up abnormally large lymphomatic cells in her upper chest that is about 9 cm in size. While this is not particularly uncommon with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, it naturally can cause issues with the various important organs in her chest. This means that the oncologists will pursue treatment as if Kelsi was farther in the staging process to make sure that they take care of this tumor quickly. Due to the placement and size of the tumor, surgery is not an option.
In order to monitor how chemotherapy will be affecting Kelsi's heart over this process, they performed a MUGA scan which uses a radioactive tracer to take pictures of the heart and monitor how it pumps blood. They also performed a PET scan. This scans works by using special dye loaded with radioactive tracers injected into the blood stream to measure blood flow, oxygen use, glucose metabolism and more.
On May 10th, Kelsi had surgery to have her port placed in her chest. The port is a small mechanism connected to a small catheter that runs directly into her superior vena cava. This port allows for her chemotherapy treatments to be fed nearly directly to her heart, hastening the process and reducing the risk of damage to her veins as the process continues. Kelsi will begin her chemotherapy treatment on Friday May 19th. She will receive a treatment every two weeks for the next six months.
I truly believe, through the loving support of her fiancé, our family and friends, along with an intense level of prayer from so many caring people, the good Lord blessed my daughter with no worse of a diagnosis. Her battle with this disease is about to begin. While Kelsi and Ely start to manage the challenges of a young life together, she will endure a difficult, costly path to getting well, with chemotherapy and countless hospital visits at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. With continued support and prayer, I’m confident my beautiful, independent daughter will win this fight! I encourage you to follow her journey at https://www.gritinthegale.com/.
All of the money donated will help with out of pocket medical expenses, as it relates to treatements and testing as well as help to cover the increase ($860) in her monthly insurance premium. Any money raised above and beyond the cost of her medical treatments will be donated back to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to help with further research.
Thank you in advance for your love, support and prayers....The Minerd Family.
About a month ago, I discovered the dreaded disease of cancer had touched one of my first true loves and prized possessions. The news that my beautiful young first-born daughter Kelsi was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, was inconceivable. This news came weeks before she was to marry her childhood boyfriend Ely Potter near their home in Olympia, Washington, and months before she positioned herself to graduate from college.
The entire process started when she visited the doctor to explore a small lump in her neck, resulting in the need for surgery to remove her lymph node. The diagnosis came a few days later.
Over the past couple of weeks, Kelsi has been meeting with her her extraordinary medical team at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The oncologists will be proceeding with a fairly aggressive chemotherapy regimine (abvd), as Kelsi has a large "mediastinal mass" in her chest. She has a tumor made of up abnormally large lymphomatic cells in her upper chest that is about 9 cm in size. While this is not particularly uncommon with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, it naturally can cause issues with the various important organs in her chest. This means that the oncologists will pursue treatment as if Kelsi was farther in the staging process to make sure that they take care of this tumor quickly. Due to the placement and size of the tumor, surgery is not an option.
In order to monitor how chemotherapy will be affecting Kelsi's heart over this process, they performed a MUGA scan which uses a radioactive tracer to take pictures of the heart and monitor how it pumps blood. They also performed a PET scan. This scans works by using special dye loaded with radioactive tracers injected into the blood stream to measure blood flow, oxygen use, glucose metabolism and more.
On May 10th, Kelsi had surgery to have her port placed in her chest. The port is a small mechanism connected to a small catheter that runs directly into her superior vena cava. This port allows for her chemotherapy treatments to be fed nearly directly to her heart, hastening the process and reducing the risk of damage to her veins as the process continues. Kelsi will begin her chemotherapy treatment on Friday May 19th. She will receive a treatment every two weeks for the next six months.
I truly believe, through the loving support of her fiancé, our family and friends, along with an intense level of prayer from so many caring people, the good Lord blessed my daughter with no worse of a diagnosis. Her battle with this disease is about to begin. While Kelsi and Ely start to manage the challenges of a young life together, she will endure a difficult, costly path to getting well, with chemotherapy and countless hospital visits at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. With continued support and prayer, I’m confident my beautiful, independent daughter will win this fight! I encourage you to follow her journey at https://www.gritinthegale.com/.
All of the money donated will help with out of pocket medical expenses, as it relates to treatements and testing as well as help to cover the increase ($860) in her monthly insurance premium. Any money raised above and beyond the cost of her medical treatments will be donated back to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to help with further research.
Thank you in advance for your love, support and prayers....The Minerd Family.