Thank you for helping Tracy!

Hello, my name is Val Erickson, and my family has been friends with the McGarry's since our oldest children were in preschool together. Tracy and I became fast friends, which has been a pleasure, but also heartbreaking to watch her go through years of struggling with Multiple Myeloma cancer. For those who aren't familiar with it, Multiple Myeloma is a rare cancer of the plasma cells.

Tracy, her husband Mike, and their two sons live in the St. Paul, MN area, and have been blessed to be able to seek treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester until now. Her doctor has recommended a program in Milwaukee WI, with a 2 year commitment. Due to the additional distance there will be a lot of added expenses for their family, estimated to be between $1500-$2000 a month for two years.

To eleviate some of the stress that this new treatment and added burden is causing to Tracy and her family, I would be ever so grateful if there is any amount of donation you can make.

Tracy was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma cancer in June 2017. At the time, she had 5 fractures in her back due to the cancer. Since that time, she has had over 10 different chemotherapies to treat her cancer as well as a stem cell transplant in early 2018. Over the past year, she was treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester with a clinical trial which brought her cancer into remission. Late last year, though, the treatment stopped working and she has now been accepted into a new clinical trial at the Froedtert Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

This treatment sounds promising, and both her Mayo doctor and her new doctor at Froedtert, are confident that this trial will control her cancer; unfortunately, the treatment requires a significant commitment from the McGarry family, both in time away from home, emotionally and financially. Beginning in mid-March, Tracy will begin her first treatment at the Froedtert hospital and will remain in the Froedtert hospital for 10 days. After that treatment, she will come home for 3 days and then return for 3 more days in the Froedtert hospital for 3 days. With each trip, Mike’s brother, Pat, will accompany her and stay in a hotel as a caregiver. After these first 2 treatments, Tracy will be treated at Froedtert once a week.

This clinical trial will continue as long as the treatment controls Tracy’s Myeloma cancer, which could be 1 – 2 years. The doctors at Froedtert tell us that it ‘is worth the effort’ to get the treatment, but he also commented on the lack of ‘quality of life’ this treatment brings upon Tracy. Each treatment in Milwaukee means 2 days away from Mike and Joseph and Jacob, as Mike will be staying with the boys each time. The drive to Milwaukee is 5 hours each way and since the treatment could last between 2 and 6 hours, Tracy, and a caregiver, will need to stay in a hotel. The financial costs are fuel, hotel, food, but the emotional toll, which is even higher, is two days each week away from her family; two days each week away from her kids sporting events, helping with homework, making dinner for her family. Each trip will take a significant toll, both emotionally and financially, but the McGarry’s are determined to follow through on this clinical trial to treat Tracy’s cancer and is asking for assistance to help them meet this challenge with the following:

Money

Hotel Points

Gift Cards

Airline points

If anyone is interested in helping by travelling with Tracy for one of the weekly trips to Milwaukee, please contact us and we will schedule you.

Thank you all for reading this, prayers, donations, time, we appreciate you all very much for helping Tracy on this journey anyway you can. It all matters.

Matthew 22:37-39 (KJV) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.