Megan's Fearless Fight Against Leukemia

Kris and Megan had an important event on April 30th, 2022, when Megan met Kris at the altar and said, “I do.” It was the perfect day. The birds were chirping, the guests looked lovely, and the food was delicious. Megan found herself getting short of breath when dancing on the dance floor and had to take a couple of breaks to sit and drink some water but thought nothing of this. The wedding night ended perfectly, sending the newlywed couple off to Rhode Island under a tunnel of sparklers.

The couple spent the next few days enjoying Rhode Island as they started their new beginning. However, three days into the honeymoon, Kris and Megan had headaches, fevers and nausea; later both found out they had COVID. They did not put too much thought into it and even laughed, thinking they were just simply jumping into “in sickness and in health,” and in a week's time, they’d be enjoying the perks of their new status as husband and wife. Although, that isn’t how things ended for Megan and Kris.

They returned from their honeymoon, and Megan was getting weaker, paler and more lethargic. She ended up getting admitted to Abington Hospital. And due to Kris’ COVID status, he could not remain at the hospital to be by his wife’s side. A bunch of tests was run on her to determine what was wrong and why she wasn’t getting any better. Megan’s bloodwork came back, and it was shocking to the ER team. Her hemoglobin was 2.3, the lowest they’ve seen in a conscious person. The team thought the levels were inaccurate, so they ran many more tests and confirmed more results. At 3 am, the oncologist on-call visited Megan in the ER. He said, “All of your labs tell me you have leukemia. We need to transfer you to Penn Hospital to confirm via bone biopsy and start immediate treatment.” Megan wished someone was there to confirm that the doctor actually stated those words. Megan called Kris, and in a tearful, low cry, Megan said, “They think I have cancer.” The couple was faced with their hardest battle yet, seven days into their marriage.

Five bags of blood and an ambulance ride later, as well as more testings and biopsies, it was confirmed that Megan had acute undifferentiated leukemia, essentially both acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic anemia mixed together. Megan was also fighting COVID, pneumonia and a respiratory virus. Megan’s medical team was fast to act. Megan would receive five weeks of harsh chemotherapy with biopsies, lumbar punctures, blood products and medications. It wasn’t long before they also discovered leukemia in the CNS (brain and spine). So more chemo was added to the regimen.

Five weeks passed by, and Kris was able to bring Megan home. It was scary for them to be outside the safe hospital walls, but they knew they could face anything together. Megan’s biopsy at the end of her first 5-week regimen was negative for leukemia. Great news for Kris and Megan, but the fight wasn’t over yet. Megan had to receive chemotherapy until a bone marrow transplant donor was willing, healthy and a match! Megan’s only cure to this would be a bone marrow transplant. The search was on! Megan and Kris’ family and friends were getting tested to see if they would be a match, while Megan was going through another 50 days of harsh chemotherapy. Luckily, after much waiting and praying, Rob (Megan’s brother) was a 100% match. This was the best news Megan and Kris could have received.

This is now the calm before the storm for the couple. Megan will be admitted back into the hospital on September 30th to receive strong chemo and radiation to prep her body for the transplant on October 5th. This has been one crazy journey for Kris and Megan and has impacted the newlyweds mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. No new couple pays for a wedding in full and then expects mountains of medical bills to flood their mailbox day after day. Thus, the start of this fundraiser. All proceeds will help the newlyweds finance the upcoming procedure and hospitalization so that they can move forward and live the happy and healthy life they vowed to live back in April.

Friends, family, and co-workers have been an amazing support for the couple, and we don’t know where they would be without the support they received. We will appreciate your continued prayer and support for the couple, and if you like to help financially, please donate through this page.