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Help Aricia crush her cancer

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Hi, my name is Justin Caivano. I am 21 years old. My mother Aricia Caivano (49) was diagnosed with myeloid dysplasia syndrome in 2013. Although she was on an ongoing chemo regimen, her MDS progressed into acute myeloid leukemia in September of 2017. It was then that her doctors began searching for a bone marrow donor. She, my brother and I then all got matching mohawks.
Her oncology team at the hospital at the University of Pennsylvania then began a more aggressive round of chemo. At this point, she was admitted to the hospital where she would receive daily blood and irradiated platelet transfusions. In October of 2017, my mom developed a brain bleed, and woke up to find herself in the neurological department of the Intensive Care Unit without the ability to talk. Her speech finally returned a number of rest-filled days later. After her first round of aggressive chemo she was allowed to return home for the week of Christmas 2017. Before the new year rolled in, she was back in a hospital bed for chemo round 2. 
With the onset of February, she contracted CDIF (clostridium difficile colitis) while in the hospital. CDIF is a highly contagious bacterial infection that spreads rampantly throughout hospitals killing roughly 14,000 people annually. not only was the CDIF torture, but an infected host stays contagious for the rest of their life. For this reason, although her immune system has since recovered, she remains in a state of quarantine to this day. 
Months had gone by, and no marrow donor had been found. She was out of time. She was treated with full body radiation to kill all of her bone marrow, cancerous or otherwise. Thereafter On April 20th 2018, stem cells from the umbilical cords of two little girls were transplanted instead of bone marrow. Her rainbow Mohawk finally fell out. 
Things were starting to look up for the cancer free 4'11" ball of faulty blood cells. Her blood cell counts were recovering steadily, then came a startling realization. She jumped out of the frying pan, straight into the fire.
Aricia's body began rejecting the stem cells, causing GVHD (Graft vs. Host Disease) in her skin. This disease manifested as a dark red raised rash. To combat the GVHD, she was started on a constant stream of the steroid Prednisone. While subduing the rash, it went on to cause a plethora of side effects. These side effects include a few heavy hitters like diabetes, scoliosis, osteoporosis, and severe edema.
Before leaving the hospital one long month after the transplant, her bones had deteriorated so much that she can no longer stand up straight and three compression fractures developed in her spine simply from lying in a hospital bed.
Countless doctor's appointments, and numerous hospitalizations later, October came. My brother Nicholas was marrying his number one gal, and my mom couldn't be more excited to attend the wedding. At this time she was in a rehabilitation facility coming off of a long stint in the hospital once again. She was hitting the physical therapy with everything she had in her, but she wouldn't be able to dance with her eldest son at his wedding, or even make an entrance without someone pushing her wheelchair.  
At present day, my mom is back in the hospital in Philadelphia on a ventilator.  I've put my personal life and professional life on hold to be full time care taker of my mother, driving her to doctors appointments, hospitals, making sure her meds are giving in proper doses, and speaking on her behalf when she is out of it on so many pain killers.  In addition to all this responsibility, I have also taken over my mom's role of full time caregiver to her mother, my mom-mom Minako who has Alzheimer's disease.  I visit her daily to cook her meals, help her with day to day tasks and make sure her home is filled with essentials.  These jobs are passionate and exhausting for me.  Yesterday I found out my mother's cobra insurance has been terminated. I'm very nervous because my mother's disease has put her into hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt in medical bills and now its really going to begin to get beyond overwhelming. I need help and support. 
I feel helpless but I am feeling better already creating this gofundme page. I am really hoping that the kindness of the world will help us prevail.  If you have been through a battle with cancer and you can relate to the struggle please share this story.  If you have been a caregiver please share this story.  taking care of families takes a village.  if this story touched you in any way please share it.  Any donation is welcome & will be so greatly appreciated. No donation is too small.      
More photos coming soon.
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Donations 

  • Paige Snow
    • $50 
    • 5 yrs
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Fundraising team: Crush Aricia's Cancer Admin. Team (4)

Justin Caivano
Organizer
Egg Harbor City, NJ
Amy Perna
Team member
Bill Betterton
Team member
Jennifer Ann
Team member

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