Fighting Leukemia together

Hello!

If you are reading this chances are you are family or a family friend, but for those of you who don’t me - my name is Darci. I am starting this page in hopes to be able to help my parents as their lives were flipped upside down in late February. What my dad thought was just a migraine in early January continued to remain without relief. After calling his doctor, he was advised to get his vitals checked which came back clear, but the migraine persisted. Weeks passed and he was slowing down, getting light headed, and unable to do things as quickly or easily as he used to be able to. My mom urged him to go to the emergency room knowing something wasn’t right, maybe his iron was low? So after work my dad finally agreed to go on his way home from work. Little did he know, he wouldn’t be coming home from work because he wouldn’t be coming home at all - not for days or even weeks. Just like that we all got the phone call, my dad would be starting immediate blood transfusions because his counts were so low to the point a minor injury or bruise could have killed him. Beyond that, as testing of his blood began they determined that he had leukemia, but could give us no further information. All that we knew was that in one emergency room visit, he would no longer return home - he wouldn’t set an alarm for work - he wouldn’t be returning to life he knew at all. In one emergency room visit for a migraine he would be staying and they would be starting to evaluate treatment plans immediately. It wasn’t until after we got the news that hours felt like minutes and time froze as we waited to find out just how bad the diagnosis would be. He was allowed no visitors so staring at the phone was all we could do. After a few days we got the news that my dad had acute lymphoblastic leukemia along with him having the Philadelphia chromosome which makes treatment & success much more difficult. In a nutshell, leukemia is a rapid spreading cancer that attacks ones white blood cells and eventually sends you into organ failure if undiagnosed or untreated adding in a the Philadelphia chromosome factor that makes it hard to treat. Although they were very hesitant on giving us much to hope for in the future, we DID catch it so that was the one thing that kept us all going. Once we got all of the “bad news” out of the way the doctors created an intensive treatment plan with various different types of chemotherapy, antibiotics, steroids, etc. Thus far, it has been quite the roller coaster. There have been highs & lows, extended hospital stays, changes in treatments & medications, but my dad has successfully made it to the point for a bone marrow transplant! For this portion of his treatment he is in Nashville and will remain there until successfully completed which is tentatively scheduled for the end of December. It is required that he brings a caregiver with him so my mom is with him as well. Due to all of these events, my dad being unable to work as well as my mom having to take time off to care for him this has caused a great deal of financial stress on them. As most of you know, my family is typically not the type to share personal issues or ask for help. However, at this point even a little would help them a lot and would be more than appreciated.

It is still very much of a shock to us all. My dad is has dedicated his life to helping others whether it be his family, his friends, and even strangers. Up until his diagnosis he was active military veteran & has dedicated over 27 years to the Army. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my dads journey thus far. Have an amazing and blessed day!