Kristina Hope (then Biblekaj) was like any other 26 year-old magical human looking to better herself and the world when she was first diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma.   Not news that someone in their twenties expects to hear, but she grappled it like the prize fighter she is and kicked its bum after a rigorous 6 rounds of CHOP chemotherapy.   She lost her hair but not her good humor or faith that this wasn’t the end for her.   Not letting stage 3 cancer get in her way of a fulfilling a meaningful life, she moved on without so much as complaining about the hand she was dealt.   Working for Ford auto shows, she met the love of her life, Christopher Hope, at a show in Columbus , Ohio in the spring of 2010.   On July 14,  2013, they were married in a beautiful ceremony filled with the shenanigans and love that comes along with being born into an Albanian family and marrying a man with the last name Hope.   Insert visions of My Big Fat Greek wedding here.   I’ve personally never been one to believe in true love tropes—but these two together, better than Disney Plus.

 

As with many newlyweds, they envisioned creating a wonderful and culturally diverse family.   Since being cancer free had expired its relapse window, they thought time was on their side.   In 2018, they found out that Kristina had cancer.  Again.  It had been 12 years since her first diagnosis so it wasn’t considered a relapse.  In fact, her doctor told her that this happening again was a .03% chance.  At this point, her and Christopher decided to consult fertility doctors to freeze her eggs before her second treatment started.  They realized they were at the precipice of now or never if they wanted any chance of having a family like they originally envisioned.  After some rounds of painful fertility injections, the oncologist and fertility doctor advised the best course of action would be to let their dreams of a biological family go and commence with chemotherapy.   Being absolute superheroes I wish someone would write about, they accepted this news in stride and adjusted their dreams to mirror reality.   I will, at this point, interject and tell you how humbled I personally am by these two humans that have reached godlike status in my eyes.   When I edited one of the photos for this gofundme to mimic an album cover, Kristina was concerned about how misleading it would be to have “cancer slayers” pluralized because she didn’t want to mislead anyone into thinking that Christopher had cancer, as well.   For me, and I’m sure anyone who has had a loved one undergo such an ordeal: it is a fight that a family takes on together.   But that is the nature of this woman; she worries about her husband.   She worries about inconveniencing me.  She worries about her family.  She worries about the stranger misunderstanding.  And I write this, mouth agape, because I don’t understand this magical being with whom I’m blessed to call cousin.   But I digress.  Back to this bullshit timeline of ill luck.

 

And just when you think this is a story of fiction, it continues to evolve and be true.  They found a tumor between her L1-L2 vertebrae and performed 6 rounds of B&B chemotherapy, where each round took two days to complete.   Bye fertility.  But just in case this isn’t enough of a hurdle, lets talk about her dad.  As if what was aforementioned is not enough to happen to a now 30-something year old, lets add a dying father to the mix.   Kristina’s chemotherapy prevented her to fly to Detroit and hold her dad one last time before Alzheimer’s and other complications took his life.  She did make it his funeral.  Yay, small mercies.

 

Let us fast forward to the days of Covid.  Covid, on its own, is enough to undermine economies and lay waste to a tantamount amount of lives, globally.   Now lets compound that with CANCER PART 3! In mid December of 2020, Kristina had a scheduled check up.  On December 23, a biopsy was administrated as the PET scan detected a hot spot.   On New Year’s Eve, Kristina was officially diagnosed with a relapse.   Her first relapse, third time diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma.  She was referred to John Hopkins to seek a second opinion on a treatment plan.   She was told the only way forward was to undergo a bone marrow transplant. 

 

She was scheduled to undergo two rounds of ICE chemotherapy (also known as salvage chemo as it is utilized when all other chemotherapies fail).  Each round of chemo lasted 3 days.   Since this time around is during a global pandemic, Christopher was not allowed to go into the hospital to support his wife during these rigorous treatments.  On February 19th, 2020, Kristina finished her second round of chemo.   Now it was a question of getting a third round of chemo to buy time until John Hopkins could schedule the transplant.   Thankfully lady luck finally intervened and her donor, brother Martin Biblekaj, was selected and the transplant scheduled to commence in the beginning of April. 

 

A move close to the hospital is required while she undergoes 70 days straight of hospital visits.   We, her family, wanted to offer our support in anyway we can.  As visiting her during the pandemic is not a possibility, we turn to our global community to ask for help.   Help absorb some of the financial impact this procedure will bestow upon the Hopes that is not covered by their insurance.  Help share her story.   Help keep the smile on her face despite everything she has had to endure up to this point, and what she will continue to endure during the transplant.  

 

I will be heading to Baltimore in two weeks and will continue to update everyone with progress and pictures.   Please help keep Hope alive.   #Hopeful2021