Paper Cranes for Luke and Lindsey
On January 18, 2018, our friend and labmate, Luke, was diagnosed with acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, and on May 13, 2020 his wife, Lindsey, was also diagnosed with acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The best way to tell this story is in Lindsey words below. Unfortunately, both Luke and Lindsey can not work because of their treatments and suppressed immune systems in the time of COVID19. To help the Belding’s financially, as well as emotionally during these times, we will be folding 1000 paper cranes and ask for “crane sponsors”. Sponsors can donate a minimum of $1 to have their name written on a handmade crane. Thank you for your help!
Link to Lindsey’s daily blog: https://lifeloveandleukemia.blog/
Lindsey’s story:
The first weekend of May I developed a sore throat as well as bit my tongue and a large canker sore began to swell. The sore throat seemed to diminish over the week while the canker sore only got bigger, more painful, and oh so angry. Wednesday night into Thursday my heart was racing even when just laying down and my throat began to feel more sore. Luke was due to be coming soon and I didn't want to risk him catching strep or something so I made an appointment to see a doctor. Due to being a member of the healthcare field they felt it was also important to swab me for COVID-19. The rapid strep was negative and so they sent me home with the recommendation of salt water rinses and lots of fluids and rest. Now Luke wouldn't be able to come home until I received a negative test result on my COVID-19 test. Well that night I started to develop a fever and woke up sweating. The next day i felt so tired and weak. I could barely eat due to the painful canker sore getting larger on my tongue so I had no energy. After 5 days of high fevers and limited intake, I went back to see my doctor and she encouraged me to go to urgent care. When I arrived there my temperature was 39 degrees Celsius so it didn't take them long to bring me in and start giving me fluids. They took some blood to run a few tests to see if they could determine the cause of my infection and what was going on.
Soon they discovered that my blood counts were low, especially my white blood cells which aid in immune function and help to fight off infections. Hence why I was on day five of fevers and no end in sight. They got some antibiotics started and had me sent over to the hospital Luke was at so that I could talk to some hematologists about my blood work results. Next on my list of things to do was get a bone marrow biopsy. Luke has had many of these and told me how painful they were so I was quite nervous. Thankfully they talked me through everything and while parts were painful and it was all quite uncomfortable, I made it through!
Unfortunately here is where things start to not look so good. The bone biopsy showed signs of leukemia. After further tests it was confirmed the I have B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I was brought up to the ward that Luke is on and so after nearly 2 months of not seeing each other we got to be together again for 24 hours until Luke got to go home. They are still running more tests to determine the next step for me but for now we are just taking things one step at a time.
Never in a million years did I think this would happen. I thought maybe someday it was a possibility, but to have the same type of cancer as my husband, and be diagnosed and admitted just as he was being discharged from his stem cell transplant to be cured is insanity. This whole thing has felt like some big joke. People keep saying we should buy a lottery ticket with these odds but with the kind of bad luck we've been happening we would end up owing the lottery money.
Right now all I want is love and support and to not be bombarded with questions. This is all overwhelming and I'm still in shock. I love you all ❤️
