Lisa, Luekemia-patient, needs help
WHO
Lisa Minkove Weiss
Please help Lisa get the care she needs
RESIDENCE
Issaquah, Washington
DOCTORS
-- Main hematologist at Fred Hutch: Dr. Maloney
https://www.fredhutch.org/en/labs/profiles/maloney-david.html
-- Swedish Cancer Institute Seattle: Dr. Pagel
http://www.swedish.org/physicians/p/pagel-john-m
ASK
In her own words:
"I really badly need a newer car. My car is over12 years old and is giving me constant trouble. I am afraid one of these days it will break down in the middle of the road. This isn't a luxury item - without a car, I can't get to my doctors appointments or get help in the event of an emergency. I can't use public transportation - I'm immune compromised. Many reasons I need my own transportation. I can't depend on others in emergencies. Sometimes I have go to the hospital in the middle of the night. I had folks drive me to appointments - it was a big problem finding rides and many times my treatment length is unpredictable. My appointments can be five hours long. It makes it hard; my daughter is working. I used to schedule chemo on her day off when I had chemo."
HISTORY
Lisa Minkove (Weiss) has been fighting a courageous battle against cancer for the last ten years.
So she can keep her independence on her journey to the cure, she needs to replace her old car that has become unreliable.
Lisa's journey with cancer started out with a papillary thyroid cancer diagnosis in 2006. After surgery and replacement therapy she's been in remission.
Four years later she was diagnosed with a stubborn and incurable form of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). Additional testing showed not only her blood, enlarged spleen and lymphatic system full of cancer cells, but also two masses on her kidneys that turned out to be two different types of kidney cancer.
Lisa had two rounds of chemo to knock back the CLL and went right into her first surgery removing 1/3 of her kidney to remove one cancerous mass. One year later she had her second kidney surgery. She shows no sign of kidney cancer after five years.
After the second kidney surgery, her CLL relapsed right away. Lisa started six months of Chemotherapy to try for a remission, but it failed. The Leukemia came back even more aggressive. Her bone marrow became totally infiltrated again in 7 weeks. She needed a new bone marrow biopsy to make sure it was only the CLL that had returned. Fortunately for her, it was only the CLL. Lisa was refractory to chemo, meaning chemo would no longer be effective.
The first novel agent developed to treat CLL in pill form was approved 4 weeks prior to her relapse. Lisa had to make a tough choice to either try a transplant that is very risky for CLL patients due to GVHD, or try a new uncertain path. She chose to start on the new novel agent that sounded promising. At that time Lisa also needed a blood transfusion due to a two month episode of autoimmune hemolytic anemia during her transition. She started the new drug and her leukemia would go on to recover.
Lisa was stable for fourteen months until she was no longer able to tolerate this drug. Courageously, she moved on to a clinical trial that was showing promise. She is currently stable on the second generation BTK inhibitor that has her stable for now and paving the way to the cure for CLL. The research shows single agents are not curative alone for CLL. Lisa is hoping to stay stable until a clinical trial of a combination of novel agents becomes available or when her current drug is approved where she can add other approved drugs. She goes for immunoglobulin infusions every six weeks to boost her immune system to prevent infections which is another big part and complication with having CLL that is being researched.
Lisa volunteers her time to help other patients with her same diagnosis. She has five hundred leukemia patients following her Facebook page. She helps keep patients updated on current research and counsels patients even through all of her own challenges. She also volunteers her time to advocate for patients when she's able.
Besides good health, Lisa’s only need right now is a reliable car.
INTERVIEWS & LINKS
https://www.patientpower.info/bio/lisa-minkove