Megan's Bone Marrow Transplant

Megan turned 19 in June, 2018. A few months prior to that she had a blood test relative to some medical treatment she was undergoing and the doctors were rather alarmed. She was transferred to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia for further testing and they discovered that she had a rare and very serious condition called MDS along with Monosomy 7 and that if untreated it was pretty much guaranteed that it would turn into AML, a very bad form of leukemia - within 6 months.

Since then it has been a whirlwind for Megan and her family and she has been in CHOP most of the time. Because of that, her mother, Ginny, and younger sister, Kate are staying with me (Sister/Aunt Cindy). Karl and their dogs travel back and forth weekly for a few days from their home in North Jersey.

Chemo started on Tuesday, July 10th and Megan is quite sick - as expected. Chemo will end on Tuesday, July 17th and then they will begin the next phase which is a bone marrow transplant. Megan will be in CHOP for several more months and will then recuperate at my house for 3 months so that she can be close to CHOP.

I decided to start a GoFundMe campaign for the family because they are dealing with quite a few extra expenses and it's rough to handle it all.

Here are some of the challenges they are dealing with:

- Medical expenses - they currently have a stack of bills from multiple hospitals that continues to grow. We estimate that the out of pocket  expenses will end up totaling about $20,000. The hope and expectation is that the bulk of the million dollar plus medical expenses will be covered by insurance.

-Traveling - Karl drives back and forth to West Chester, PA from North Jersey weekly. Both Ginny and Karl are traveling back and forth to CHOP and taking turns staying with Megan as she needs a family member with her 24/7. Costs accompanying travel are gas, tolls, parking in downtown Philadelphia, and meals (both on the road as well as at the hospital).

- Loss of income for Gin - last year Ginny was an adjunct professor and accompanist at Montclair University. She will not be able to work at least through the end of 2018.

- Refitting the home environment as per the doctor's instructions to keep Megan safe from infection as her immune system recovers.

You can follow Megan's journey on her CaringBridge site at: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/meganstephens.

We so appreciate that a number of you have asked about a GoFundMe campaign and there has been a great outpouring of love and support. From Gin, Karl and all the girls, thank you so much...