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Marielyn's Fight Against Extremely Rare Cancer Takes Her to UCLA
Please help to defray cost of trip and treatment!
It is so hard to know how to help when someone you love is told they have cancer. My 29 year old sister in law, Marielyn Curtright, has Angioimmunoblastic T cell Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. If you've never heard of it, you are not alone. This type of lymphoma is very rare, affecting less than 1% of patients with lymphoma and making it difficult to diagnose and treat.
I am reaching out to you today to ask for your help as she and my brother prepare to go to UCLA for 6-8 weeks of intensive treatment. First and foremost I would like to ask for prayers. Our families are firm believers that prayer can work miracles. Second, if you are able to assist with a financial donation, we would be ever so grateful.
This is Marielyn's story and why we are asking for your help.
Around Thanksgiving Marielyn wasn't feeling well and went to the doctor and was told she had a bad cold, it got worse, back to the doctor, now it is tonsillitis, it got worse, back to the doctor now it is mumps, it got worse, now it is in between Christmas and New Years and she is admitted to the hospital. She is weak, has difficulty breathing, heart rate and blood pressure wacky, face and neck really swollen with huge lymph nodes, fever, rash. They are running all kinds of tests, doing biopsies of lymph nodes and bone marrow, throwing meds at her like crazy till her kidneys crashed and she was moved to ICU and had to be on dialysis for nearly a week. She spent 3 weeks in the hospital and went home WITHOUT a diagnosis.
February and March brought 2 more trips to the hospital; the last one she was admitted for another continuous 3 weeks.
She has fevers, her blood pressure is too low and heart rate is too fast, her nodes are still swollen, her red and white blood cell counts are messed up and they still don't know why. More tests, more scans, more biopsies, dialysis and blood transfusion. Finally, biopsies are sent to UCLA and a diagnosis of Angioimmunoblastic T cell Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma is given and the first chemo was administered on April 3rd.
She was only home from the hospital for a week and admitted to the hospital for the 4th time. She has spent about 8 of the first 16 weeks of 2015 (including New Years, Valentine's Day, her wedding anniversary, and her birthday) in the hospital, but at least we now we know what she is fighting.
The problem is, this is rare. So incredibly rare, that her oncologist took on the insurance company on her behalf, and arranged for a consultation at UCLA. Since he did not know enough about this type of Lymphoma he felt it was important to get their advice on how to treat her. She has now received 4 rounds of chemo with the formula being altered somewhat on the advice of the specialist at UCLA.
Now comes the really hard part of the treatment. Marielyn will receive 2 more rounds of chemo in Las Vegas, each one stronger than the last. It will take 2 days to administer the next one and 3 days for the one after that. Then in order to finish treatment, she will go to UCLA for 6-8 weeks. The first 3-4 weeks will be spent in the hospital and the second 3-4 weeks she will be treated out-patient.
She will go to the stem cell transplant unit. While there, a very strong round of chemo will be given to kill any malignant cells left in the body. It takes one week to administer this very strong drug. One of the side effects is that her stem cells will be ruined. The doctors will first harvest her stem cells and then infuse the chemo while the stem cells are out so they don't get damaged. After the week long infusion of chemo drugs, they will do a do a procedure to return her stem cell back into her body.
As you might imagine, there are a lot of risks involved in this procedure. She has been warned that it could be lethal, but they are going to one of the best facilities in the country, maybe even the world, for their expertise with this procedure. Our family is hopeful for a positive outcome and a diagnosis of remission afterward.
Needless to say, after 6 months of not being able to work and 8 weeks of hospitalization, my brother, Nate, and his wife Marielyn have accumulated almost $1,000,000 in medical bills, resulting in over $30,000 of out of pocket expenses. They have maxed out their credit cards and used every bit of both their personal savings and the savings of their beloved dog grooming business just to sustain their household and provide for Marielyn's medical needs. Nate has not left Marielyn's side and will need remain with her throughout the treatments at UCLA. Without either of them being able to work at this time, they desperately need help to get through this next round of treatment.
Blessings to you for your kind consideration to assist them with a financial gift.
Please help to defray cost of trip and treatment!
It is so hard to know how to help when someone you love is told they have cancer. My 29 year old sister in law, Marielyn Curtright, has Angioimmunoblastic T cell Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. If you've never heard of it, you are not alone. This type of lymphoma is very rare, affecting less than 1% of patients with lymphoma and making it difficult to diagnose and treat.
I am reaching out to you today to ask for your help as she and my brother prepare to go to UCLA for 6-8 weeks of intensive treatment. First and foremost I would like to ask for prayers. Our families are firm believers that prayer can work miracles. Second, if you are able to assist with a financial donation, we would be ever so grateful.
This is Marielyn's story and why we are asking for your help.
Around Thanksgiving Marielyn wasn't feeling well and went to the doctor and was told she had a bad cold, it got worse, back to the doctor, now it is tonsillitis, it got worse, back to the doctor now it is mumps, it got worse, now it is in between Christmas and New Years and she is admitted to the hospital. She is weak, has difficulty breathing, heart rate and blood pressure wacky, face and neck really swollen with huge lymph nodes, fever, rash. They are running all kinds of tests, doing biopsies of lymph nodes and bone marrow, throwing meds at her like crazy till her kidneys crashed and she was moved to ICU and had to be on dialysis for nearly a week. She spent 3 weeks in the hospital and went home WITHOUT a diagnosis.
February and March brought 2 more trips to the hospital; the last one she was admitted for another continuous 3 weeks.
She has fevers, her blood pressure is too low and heart rate is too fast, her nodes are still swollen, her red and white blood cell counts are messed up and they still don't know why. More tests, more scans, more biopsies, dialysis and blood transfusion. Finally, biopsies are sent to UCLA and a diagnosis of Angioimmunoblastic T cell Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma is given and the first chemo was administered on April 3rd.
She was only home from the hospital for a week and admitted to the hospital for the 4th time. She has spent about 8 of the first 16 weeks of 2015 (including New Years, Valentine's Day, her wedding anniversary, and her birthday) in the hospital, but at least we now we know what she is fighting.
The problem is, this is rare. So incredibly rare, that her oncologist took on the insurance company on her behalf, and arranged for a consultation at UCLA. Since he did not know enough about this type of Lymphoma he felt it was important to get their advice on how to treat her. She has now received 4 rounds of chemo with the formula being altered somewhat on the advice of the specialist at UCLA.
Now comes the really hard part of the treatment. Marielyn will receive 2 more rounds of chemo in Las Vegas, each one stronger than the last. It will take 2 days to administer the next one and 3 days for the one after that. Then in order to finish treatment, she will go to UCLA for 6-8 weeks. The first 3-4 weeks will be spent in the hospital and the second 3-4 weeks she will be treated out-patient.
She will go to the stem cell transplant unit. While there, a very strong round of chemo will be given to kill any malignant cells left in the body. It takes one week to administer this very strong drug. One of the side effects is that her stem cells will be ruined. The doctors will first harvest her stem cells and then infuse the chemo while the stem cells are out so they don't get damaged. After the week long infusion of chemo drugs, they will do a do a procedure to return her stem cell back into her body.
As you might imagine, there are a lot of risks involved in this procedure. She has been warned that it could be lethal, but they are going to one of the best facilities in the country, maybe even the world, for their expertise with this procedure. Our family is hopeful for a positive outcome and a diagnosis of remission afterward.
Needless to say, after 6 months of not being able to work and 8 weeks of hospitalization, my brother, Nate, and his wife Marielyn have accumulated almost $1,000,000 in medical bills, resulting in over $30,000 of out of pocket expenses. They have maxed out their credit cards and used every bit of both their personal savings and the savings of their beloved dog grooming business just to sustain their household and provide for Marielyn's medical needs. Nate has not left Marielyn's side and will need remain with her throughout the treatments at UCLA. Without either of them being able to work at this time, they desperately need help to get through this next round of treatment.
Blessings to you for your kind consideration to assist them with a financial gift.
Organizer and beneficiary
Nathan Curtright
Beneficiary