Send the lymphoma all the way home-ah!!

About a month ago Chet came down with a pretty bad cold where he lost his voice and was pretty down and out for a bit. A cold like this is rather common for Chet as he is on a lot of immunosuppressants due to his heart transplant. Once he was back on his feet he began noticing his voice wasn’t returning in any way shape or form. After 3 weeks of no voice he consulted an ENT specialist who concluded that something aggressive was attacking his vocal cord. Chet was placed on a clear liquids only diet and if nothing else came back weird- to return in 3 weeks hopefully with a voice. 

A few short days later Chet got the call no transplant receiver ever wants to hear: ‘we need you in Salt Lake ASAP because there is an unknown mass putting pressure on your heart.’ Chet drove through the night on Tuesday night and arrived in SLC at 2am Wednesday morning and was immediately admitted into the hospital there. 

After multiple tests and scans the doctors confirmed the mass was in fact a type of lymphoma that originates from PTLD. PTLD stand for Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder and is a type of lymphoma that can be a result of both solid organ transplant (kidney, lung, heart, liver, lung) and allogeneic bone marrow or stem cell transplants (cells from a donor). PTLD is one of the most common post-transplant cancers.  Chet will have to stay in SLC for the course of his treatment, taking him away from his family, friends and job for an undetermined amount of time. While Chet's prognosis is VERY good and doctors have high hopes that it will be easily cured, we all know how quickly hospital bills pile up on top of all our normal day to day bills. Not only does he have the stress of bills but Chet has a beautiful 5 year old daughter Brooklyn who still has daycare / school to attend and needs food to grow her big and strong so she can win medals like her daddy. 

If you are able to donate any amount what so ever to help Chet through this scary time it would be so greatly appreciated by him and his family!