Raising Funds for Claudine's Cancer Care

On Thanksgiving night, November 23, 2023, my sister, Claudine, was experiencing stomach pain that she had been trying to manage all day long, but it was getting worse after dinner. Our mom strongly encouraged her to go to the ER to seek care and not go home to sleep off her pain like Claudine wanted to. After tests were run in the ER, one of the test results came back showing her platelets being extremely low and blood cell count being off. The doctor wanted to make further observations and admitted her to the hospital later that night to continue to try and figure out what was going on. Once she was up in her room, she began receiving platelet infusions and blood transfusions. They ran further tests on Friday with multiple blood samples drawn and didn’t have much to share for updates throughout the day. At around 5 pm on Friday, November 24th, the doctor came in and gave the worst news anyone wants to hear. Claudine was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). AML is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow that progresses rapidly without immediate medical treatment. Within seconds of finding out she had cancer, Claudine had to decide on where she wanted to be transported to receive immediate infusion treatment and care. Unfortunately, Rapid City does not treat AML to keep her local. Claudine chose to go to UCHealth in Aurora, CO. The nurse in Rapid began prepping treatment as recommended by the medical team in Colorado prior to her being transported. She was air flighted Friday night from Rapid City, SD to Denver, CO to begin care at UCHealth immediately.

The UCHealth medical team continued to do labs and worked to get the pain for the issue that sent her to the ER in the first place under control. During the first week she was in their care they focused on pain management and getting her treatment for AML.

Luckily, Claudine caught her symptoms early and there are several treatment options available. On November 27th she had a bone marrow biopsy done to determine the mutation type of her AML and what treatment option would be best for her. Her amazing medical team created a plan, and, on that Wednesday, she began an aggressive chemo treatment called a 7+3 regiment. For days 1-3, she would receive Idarubicin and days 1-7, she would receive Cytarabine treatment. Starting on days 8 through 21 she has been taking a chemo pill called Quizartinib. On day 14, December 12th, she had her second bone marrow biopsy to see if the chemo treatment had worked as expected and the next steps on getting a stem cell transplant. According to her doctors, she is on cruise control for now. Once her antibodies build up enough, she will be ready to be outpatient until her stem cell transplant.

All her siblings completed a cheek swab to see if they were full or half matches to be a bone marrow donor. In a couple of weeks, she will find out if any of her siblings are a match. If none of her siblings are a match, then the medical team will search their database for her twin gene and move her to active status on the transplant list. Once the bone marrow donor has been matched the medical team will advise the parties of the plan for the transplant.

Claudine has a long road ahead of her and will need to get another round of chemo before she can have the stem cell transplant. She will stay in the hospital for approximately one month after the transplant. After the transplant she will need to live within 30 miles of the hospital for outpatient care daily and have a caregiver 24/7 for 2-3 months.

Please consider making a monetary donation to help with the burden of medical costs while she is away from home getting treatment.

Thank you all for your support, prayers, and encouraging words. They are helping her remain positive and strong in her battle. Claudine is a strong, brave, fierce woman!!

Claudine has two PSA’s to be shared everywhere beyond your circles.

1. If you are having some type of irregular pain and you do not typically go to the doctor-do not be stubborn but listen to your body and get checked, even if it turns out to be nothing.

2. Donate blood and platelets if you can.

• If you can take the extra time to donate, please do. Especially the platelets. Ask your local blood donation center how you can do this. Even though it takes a little extra time to donate platelets, it is extremely low in supply and valuable. Especially to patients like her.