Hey everyone!

I'm reaching out for help with my wife's unbelievable Two-and-a-Half-year cancer and bone marrow transplant journey. It all began in May of 2023 when my son was only 3 months old. Her symptoms only started with her pinky toe going numb but over the course of the next two and a half months things happened that would change our lives forever. After about 3 weeks of noticing the numbness start to travel up both of her legs, she began experiences excruciating nerve pain from the bottoms of her feet all the way to her hips. After over 17 ER visits and ambulance rides day and night, continually being released saying it will go away on its own or accusing her of being there for the drugs because of her age, she was finally admitted under the assumption she possibly had the disease GBS, Guillain-Barré syndrome or CIDP, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy. For the next two weeks, Neurology performed countless tests, including EMG's, EKG's, CT's, MRIs, as well as Plasmapheresis which nearly killed her twice because they did something incorrect with the machine and she crashed. Luckily, she was revived both times. They could not determine it to be GBS or CIDP, so she was discharged and sent home with still no hopes of what was happening to her. Her condition continued to progress, and her pain was getting worse by the day. She saw another neurologist shortly after discharge at Neuroscience Group, where this neurologist took little time to look at her chart or listen. The doctor determined it was GBS without evaluation and sent her home to "get over it". She continued to have excruciating pain with more ER visits. One early morning she was in the ER, and it was there that she was told she needed to go to Mayo Clinic in MN to get the help she needed. That day straight from the ER in the beginning of August 2023, she traveled with my father in -law to the ER at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN with the hopes they would admit her. Her and her father did just that, and after four hours of traveling and four and a half hours of waiting in the ER, she was taken back. After only a few minutes, the ER nurses knew there was something serious going on and the attending provider said it was dangerous to let her leave in that condition. The provider had her admitted immediately. Within a few days, she had over 6 different teams working on her case and over 30 doctors working together. Right away, they did dozens of tests on her, including MRIs, a PET scan, nerve testing, blood work, EKGs and countless others. They discovered a few small nodules in her right lung and came to the conclusion that on top of the paralysis that she was experiencing in her legs, it was possibly that they now found cancer. Recieving that news was completely devastating, being that we had just started our new family together. By the beginning of September, she was started on a low dose Chemotherapy in the hopes of stopping whatever seemed to be destroying her nerves and to shrink whatever was happening to be growing in her lungs. On September 9th, she was discharged and allowed to come home with the understanding that if anything got worse, she would be allowed to be readmitted to Mayo. Unfortunately, after only a few days, on September 16th, the pain was unbearable, and she had to be readmitted. She continued to get worse, eventually having over 9 teams and over 60 doctors nationally and internationally were working on her case together. In early October, she started to crash one night and almost passed away. All of her teams came together and decided that something had to happen now, or she didn't have much longer. They put her on an intense chemotherapy regiment and for the next four and a half months' she went through 6 treatments. On December 3rd, 2023, she was discharged from the hospital and finally was able to come home. This did not last. She was readmitted before Christmas and due to possible sepsis when she went in for outpatient treatment. This caused her and I along with our baby to spend his first Christmas in the hospital. Fortunately, she did not have sepsis and once she was stable, she was released on Dec. 28th, 2023. Unfortunately, at the beginning of March 2024, she became disoriented and feverish. We brought her to the ER to find out that she was going through sepsis and was immediately admitted to the hospital. They found a ruptured mass located over her tail bone and she needed surgery to remove it. They said if she was an hour later, she wouldn't have made it. They ended up creating a 4.5cm by 9.5cm hole on her back that had to heal from the inside out. She ended up being there for 5 weeks, then moved to a different hospital to receive three weeks of rehab for physical therapy. By the time she was released, she needed a PET scan to see if she was still in remission with her cancer. We were giving the terrible news that it had not just come back but spread from her right lung to her left lung, both kidneys, and her liver. It came back with a vengeance. Our whole family was completely devastated. Her new oncology team determined that she was a good candidate for a newer immunotherapy, and they had high hopes that this would work for her and possibly improve her neuropathy condition as well. For four months, she received 14 treatments and then given another PET scan. Once again, we received the terrible news that it had only slowed the progress down and now her body was covered with cancer. At this point we didn't know what to do and were told that if we didn't figure something out that she did not have much time left with us. We were then recommended by her Oncology doctor to reach out to the University of Minnesota Medical Center. They imminently took over her case and had her admitted at the end of January of 2025. Her oncology-hematology doctor said that they were going to have her admitted until the found out exactly what type of cancer that she had. After over a dozen biopsies she had done the previous year and a half, they discover that her cancer diagnosis was determined to be Diffuse Large B-cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma being the highest aggression level. Her Oncology team immediately knew what treatment plan they wanted her on and within 2 weeks began. She was scheduled to have a total of 8 treatments over the course of 4 months but after just her 4th treatment they decided to do a PET scan to see what kind of if any improvements to her cancer. The results came back and to our amazement, her cancer was already almost completely gone. Her lungs, liver, and kidneys were almost 100% clear of cancer. It was the best news we had received in about 2 years. At this point they said that she was in complete remission but with the gene mutations they had found in her immune system that without receiving a bone marrow transplant, she was almost 100% likely to have cancer happen again sometime within her life. With the hopes of receiving the transplant, they also told us that they have seen patients with neuropathy like hers, it has been seen to possibly improve, if not cure that condition. She was originally supposed to receive her bone marrow transplant in May of 2025, however after a new PET scans, they discovered a small nodule in her heart that was unknown of at the time and a small spot on her liver again. Due to the seriousness of the nodule in her heart and the spot on her liver with the possibility of being cancer, they had to postpone the transplant until they knew what exactly was being seen on her scan. Thankfully, they did not have to biopsy the nodule in her heart as they were able to get a live sample of tissue from her liver during that biopsy. We got they great news that it was only inflammation and that we would be able to proceed with the bone marrow transplant. It was finally scheduled, but the week before, she unfortunately came down with the rhino virus, it had to be pushed back until she was no longer sick. When she was then ready to receive the transplant, we were informed that her second donor had become sick and that we would have to wait until they were better. After 2 weeks of waiting for that person, we were told that they no longer qualified and had to find a third donor for her, and it could take up to a month. We were completely devastated again having been pushed back for over 2 months from her original transplant date. Thankfully within a week, they told us that she had a new donor in-line, and we were finally ready to sign all of the paperwork. On August 30th, my wife finally received her bone marrow transplant! It has been the hardest two and a half years of my families lives but we have stuck strong together and have taken this journey 1 day at a time. My wife continues to be in severe terrible pain every moment of the day and still can't walk on her own. I'm reaching out and asking for any help as this journey has not only taken a massive emotional and financial toll on myself, wife and son but has taken its toll on our entire family and friends with all of the travelling and support they have given us. I would like to give back the best I can to everyone that has been there for my family. Thank you for taking the time to read and become apart our story and God bless each and every one of you!