Lynn vs Leukemia

The man that I pledged my life to, my love to, is now in intensive care. He is fighting for his life. His name is Lynn.

Thirty eight years ago we met. It was love at first sight, and without reservation we married a few weeks later. We built a life together. We became a family. Like all couples we had both joys and sorrows. We always held each other’s hands and made it through, all of it, together.

Four years ago Lynn was diagnosed with a rare genetic type of blood cancer, Polycythemia Vera (PV). The bone marrow, which produces your blood cells, begin to generate an abnormal amount. The cells are unable to mature and grow to full size, restricting their ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to every part of your body. The blood becomes too thick to move through the blood vessels and phlebotomies are needed to control blood counts. As the bone marrow continues to produce at a horrific rate, the stress begins to wear down the marrow making it likely that this cancer will mutate into something worse. And this is usually a matter of “when” not “if”.

Three weeks ago it mutated into AML; Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Within those three weeks his body was devastated by the cancer and he has been placed on life support in the MICU at Cleveland Clinic.

He was not prepared for this and neither was I.

I never imaged how devastating the fear and worry would be.

Lynn was a strong man in the beginning. Then the assaulting pain started and each night after a day of fighting he was reduced to tears in my arms. He wanted to see it through till Valentine’s Day. On February 15 his children and I accompanied him to Ashtabula hospital for pain relief. Not knowing that an ambulance ride to Cleveland Clinic would push this journey forward like a bullet. The next day he received the diagnoses of leukemia. That was followed by bone marrow biopsy and discussions about the uses of Cytarabine and Daunorubicin, the preferred chemotherapy treatment. This treatment is used in hopes of killing off enough of the leukemia cells. Once the bone marrow is chemically altered by the chemotherapy, it would allow for a bone marrow transplant to be viable. The treatment alone would require a long hospital stay of two months. And we arrived with nothing. We watched in despair as he seemed to get weaker and weaker. I bought him a giraffe. Why? Because I didn’t know what else to do.

The bone marrow biopsy confirmed AML. Before the treatment could begin his body began to succumb to the cancer. It was so ravaging his torso was covered in masses filled with leukemia cells. His body unable to fight the sudden onset began to fall apart. His heart beat became unstable and it had to be electrically shocked twice to stabilize it. He was placed on medication to desperately keep his blood pressure high enough to keep him alive. Then a blood clot, a side effect, traveled to his lung and he was put on a ventilator and blood thinners. His kidneys began to fail next and dialysis was considered. He was on oxygen and….. well the photo of his IV pole should explain it all. Despite the fact that he was dying from leukemia and his body was failing within three days of diagnoses, chemotherapy was started. And because he had been sedated, he never even knew it. It is suspected that the leukemia cells have invaded his brain and he will need the same chemotherapy to be injected into his spinal fluid. With platelets plummeting and needing blood transfusions and now at the deepest point of despair, I was asked if he had a DNR. I glared at each doctor and said, “No, do whatever it takes to bring him back to me”.

What the cancer doesn’t destroy, the treatment will.

It seemed like mere moments ago he was holding my hand as we walked our dog. Now I am holding his hand and begging him to stay with me.

I am asking for help to get my husband whole again and bring him home to me. To hold my hand.

I am asking for help with living expenses. I am asking for help to pay our mortgage so he will have a home to come back to. Travel expenses as I travel 3 hours a day minimum to see him. As his support person I will need funds to rent an apartment that is very close to the hospital whenever the time comes when he might be eligible for a bone marrow transplant. I am asking for help with medial expenses of which I cannot fathom the amount.

I thank you deeply for reading this, for carrying about Lynn. I thank you for sharing Lynn's story. I thank you for donating to help save my Lynn. He is a good man and the love of my life. I thank you genuinely with all the gratitude my heart can hold.