Support Romi Marmet's Cancer Battle with MPAL

Please note when donating on the Go Fund Me platform: GO FUND ME SURREPTITIOUSLY ADDS A "TIP" TO THEMSELVES THAT LACKS TRANSPARENCY AND AVOIDS EASY DETECTION WHEN YOU DONATE!!! To avoid this from happening, be sure to read the entire page when you put in your donation amount. Look below your donation amount in the center of the page, it says, "Add Custom Tip." It will give you the option to make a custom tip. Put in zero to avoid being charged a "tip" on your credit card. Write zero in, and it will cancel the tip below your donation amount at the bottom of the donation page. They already charge a 3% fee from which they gain income.

Here to Serve, a national 501 (c) 3 nonprofit (https://heretoserve.org/), is helping the Marmet family manage their cancer journey with Romi. We have set up this Go Fund Me page and an online care community for the family. Donations on this Go Fund Me page go directly to the family. Therefore, unfortunately, there is no tax deduction because the IRS considers this directed giving. But, more importantly, you are helping the family! If you wish to follow Romi and the family’s cancer journey, you can join their online care community, where you will receive updates and tangible ways to help. Use this link to register on Romi’s Here to Serve care community: https://heretoserve.salsalabs.org/carecommunityregistrationform/index.html. Below is the story of Romi and the family’s cancer journey with her…

In late May 2022, Shira and Joel noticed some concerning things going on with their normally happy and active 10-month-old. Romi, their 4th child, was not up and stepping around the furniture like she used to. She started to crab crawl, was extra fussy, and would not sleep in her crib. Her belly button was not normal, and she had a rash, which made them question if something deeper was wrong. They took Romi to the pediatrician but did not get answers they felt explained the behaviors and physical issues they saw and went from pediatrician to pediatrician. They finally did an ultrasound at CHLA on June 1st, and while at the hospital, they were exposed to Covid, and everyone in the family got sick!

After they all recovered from Covid, they continued searching for answers for Romi and drew blood to take a deeper look. Two hours later, Shira received a call to bring Romi to CHLA right away for more extensive blood tests; what they saw was likely life-threatening. Initial tests showed Romi may have leukemia. They rushed Romi to CHLA’s ER. After the tests came back, six doctors walked into the hospital room and told a devastated and shocked Shira and Joel that Romi had cancer with a 160,000 white cell count. The doctors explained they had never seen this type of cancer in infants. She also had a genetic marker for an even rarer form of cancer that would require two to three years of chemo with follow-up for 5 years after that.

Romi was diagnosed on June 27th with MPAL, Mixed Phenotype Acute Leukemia just a few days before her first birthday. MPAL, Mixed Phenotype Acute Leukemia, is a very rare type of leukemia where more than one type of leukemia co-occurs. At diagnosis, 70% of the cells in her blood and 85% of the cells in her marrow were cancerous. This would be a long and gut-wrenching journey to cure Romi.

After two long and difficult rounds of chemotherapy, the cancer still remained. Their original hope was the chemotherapy would rid her of the cancer, and they could continue a maintenance course of chemo for another few years. Since the cancer became resistant to chemo, they ran a course of immunotherapy medication as a bridge to a bone marrow transplant. Just before that process began, she ended up with a bacterial infection in her blood. Also, her original PICC line was pulled out, leaving a large clot inside her heart. She remained in the hospital on strong antibiotics. She still required another partial course of immunotherapy meds while they waited for the antibiotics to work. Romi has been in the hospital almost non-stop since the end of June.

In November 2022, Romi received an emergency bone marrow transplant; the urgency of which required it to happen within days. They, therefore, went to the bone marrow database and found a match with someone in Israel. However, that person would not agree to be a donor. Therefore, they had to endure a longer process of testing family members, adding more risk to the bone marrow transplant’s potential for success. Fortunately, their daughter Aria, 9, was a match. They then went through the process of tests, bone marrow extraction, and transplant to Romi. Romi is in isolation undergoing continued treatment to avoid rejection and other side effects. Obviously, this has been grueling for the entire family, who have had no family time together since June and are trying to manage finances, home school, Romi’s treatment, and have some semblance of a normal household. Please, a donation of any amount will help the family with medical bills, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and other meal cards to bring meals to the home and hospital and a host of other family financial needs. They are a single-income family and Joel had to take some time off, but also, he can't risk losing his job. His compensation is based partially on commission, and this has been an awful year income-wise on top of everything.

Most importantly, when a child has a bone marrow transplant, it requires a lifetime of medical oversight, tests, and physical, occupational, and often mental health therapy, not to mention supplements that will help Romi's body recover and stay healthy that are not covered on insurance. This easily could add another $250,000 to get Romi through her childhood.