Help Lissy s Multiple Mieloma Fight

 Hola.
My name is Lissy Pereira. I am 39 years old, I was born and raised in Cartago, Costa Rica but I  moved to the USA in 2010.  I am  a School Counselor, an Educational Diagnostician, a Developmental Specialist and  Infant Massage Educator. I have always loved to help others.  I have done volunteer jobs in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, and Mexico
I can describe myself as being a hard worker, perseverant, somewhat a dreamer who love s nature, a pacifist , who Love s LIFE!

On  October 25 th 2012,  at a young age of 34,  I was diagnosed with Multiple Mieloma, cancer of the bone marrow .To me and many others who have battled and continue to battle this Horrific  6 letter  word, that continuously stabs me so deeply in my side, I could not believe it, when I first heard it. and after so many years, I still am scared when I have to do lab or biopsies.
Many words and feelings hit me at the same  time: hopeless, death, why me???, anger, but I was so weak  to be  furious that I had almost but surendered !My doctor told me I had  barely another month possibly of LIFE left to live, stage III... incurable... paliative care... A very agressive Disease to battle.  It seemed to me that he was definetly talking about someone else and not to me.

I was athletic, I had never smoked, sometimes an acassional drink, never used drugs, Had never  been in a hospital and all in a suddden: Agressive Chemo theropy, cables, Ctscans, extremely painful bone marrow  aspirations. with needles used to drill to the center of my  bone with only a local anestesia, anxiety, surgeries , and  so much  more. 5 years later here I go again. This will be my third bone marrow transplant.

 I prayed, I fought. I cried, I vomited,  I laughed, I surendered, and prayed somemore. the mood swings. The steroids that caused my body to gain lots of weight,  perhaps 50 pounds; people used to ask  how come you are gaining some much weight,... or even worse... oh BUT YOU LOOK SO GOOD , when a person would think or tend to think, that LOOKS can be so deceiving   Come on!!!! I knew they only wanted to encourage me. more encouraging words perhaps would be, I am here  for you and we love you. that would have made me feel better.

I lost all my hair, and no, you never get used to seeing yourself bald in the mirror.  This is actually the third time I  have to deal with losing my hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc.
I asked God for my purpose, and I also asked why me and why so young.
well... why not me??? 

 In October 2013 I went to Denver to the Colorado Blood cancer institute. They stimulated my bone marrow, collected the baby stem cells from my own blood, gave me  high doses of chemo and  re introduced the cells in my body.  Sounds fast but i can tell you, it s not. I stayed in the hospital 1 month isolated. Held by one side by my husband and on the other by my mom! foremost  by God and my angels, With a dedicated team of doctors and nurses. I was discharched in November. I still remember the smell of the air that morning and the blessing to continue my persuit of LIFE. No  words can describe such a generous and miraculous moment. it was like my first breath as a newborn child.

I Went back to Costa Rica right after transplant. even if it  was not recomended to do so, due to the fact of just recieving a new immune sytem days old! a system that is meant to fight and protect me, and loan me  another chance, while I was there I received so much love and positivite embraces. plenty of organic foods, lots of healthy sunshine, walks on the beach, music from the gentle sounds of the forest.   

 In need of my medical follow up I returned to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I started looking for a job, I was unable to find anything  for 6 months. I fell into a very profound depression, I felt very lonely, useless, with absolutely no money and felt ugly. My husband was unable to work not able to work due to my need of a caregiver. He worked when he could. Making our financial status not very promising we fell into the red. During 2014 and 2015 I had 2 relapses. That means that the cancer is back. So I went for treatments again.
Daily chemo. But at the same timeI worked as a school  and guidance couselor. My bird  soul started singing again at the church choir, I played the piano and painted, I joined my karate team again. I learned that the best things in life are free and that God loves me.  Mom , my husband and my friends are a true  blessing.  I am a blessing for some.  I could not have babies, I would have loved to, but biologically, the transplant s medications were so strong that left me infertile and  in an early menopause.  I relapsed in February  2015 and I fought again . Then in February 2016 the cancer came back very agressively, My Dr. treated me with a new therapy, It was an Auto immune therapy,that did not work for me. the iIllness was not  being controlled.
So in  July 2016 they did a bone marrow biopsy and found I had 95% of cancer cells in the bone marrow. So they referred me inmediatelly to the Mieloma Institute at University of Arkansas for Medical Science. I was  hospitalized for  a month. Then in September and October as well. I got my 2nd Bone marrow trasplant on October 31rst.

I have medical  bills that are getting more expensive daily, that said there is no monitary value that anyone can put a price on my or anyones life, so, the money donated and raised, will be used
For monthly payments of medical bills, travel expences, Etc.

How soon you need the funds
My goal is to raise the money within the next 6 months.

Why this means so much to me?
I think that any person suffering from an illness should not  have to be  worried  about financial issues or making accounting of thousands of dollars in debts, or feeling harrased by collection agencies to pay, a sound place to Live, even worse, not having money to eat nutritious food to help him or her heal, or to be worried about loosing a job or having to resign (!). Having cancer, as a threatening life situation,  is  an enourmous struggle  to deal with and it adds so much stress to the life of a person.

Finally I want to  thank you and May  GOD  bless you all for your generosity, to GOD be the glory...
Even though I may not even know  who you are, Our Creator does, and HE  will fullfill your life with plenty of health, prosperity, love and real happiness.

It has been 5 years of chemotherapy, 14  bone marrow biopsies, liters of dexamethasone and chemo in my body, but thousands of hugs and kisses from my friends and family. 
Thank you from the deepest of my heart.
Que Dios los bendiga y prospere en abundancia.


 So kindly LOVE Lissy, Marvin ,and Mom 
This photo was in 2013.