Mike's Fight Against Cancer
Donation protected
Mike has a rare blood cancer called Myelofibrosis. It affects the bone marrow and its ability to create healthy blood cells. Left untreated 50% of people live 5 years or less.
The good news is that it's survivable and possibly curable with a bone marrow transplant. This is a serious procedure. He has to have a matched donor, unfortunately with this type of cancer, he’s not able to use his own bone marrow.
Our first step is to give him a drug to shrink his spleen. It needs to be smaller so it can cope with the next steps. Once the spleen is cooperating, and a donor is identified, they will put him in the hospital for about 3 weeks. He’ll have a heavy dose of chemo to essentially kill his current immune system (their words were ‘take him to zero’). This is approximately a 7 day process. Then they will take marrow from the donor and place it in Mike. For the next two weeks he will be in isolation (think bubble boy) until the new cells graft with the remaining cells in his body.
After that he’s looking at a 3-6 month recovery. He can do this in a quarantined home with limited exposure to visitors, super clean house, food with extra preparation, etc. We can keep the dogs but they can't sleep with him. The cat will have to be relocated in the interim. He won’t be able to work during this time.
For a year, he’ll be limited on activities, be building back his immune system and have weekly tests (that feels like nothing after all we’ll have been through). He’ll be starting from scratch on immunizations and will take on the donors immune characteristics. He’s essentially a baby again.
Once he recovers he should be good to go. He’ll have to get checkups and bloodwork for the rest of his life but, hey, it's better than the alternative.
There are many risks. If the new bone marrow is rejected we have to deal with that. If he gets sick--flu, measles, staph infections, etc. that would be a setback. But there are many positives. As I said it's treatable and possibly curable. We have a huge support system here in KC, Iowa and California. We live 3 miles from the hospital so are close if complications arise. We really liked the doctors, staff and facility at KUMed.
We are encouraged by this news. We’d be lying if we said we weren’t scared about the procedure and the recovery but the alternative is scarier.
Mike will start the drug to shrink his spleen and Katie & Joey (Mike’s kids) will be tested. If all goes as planned, the doctors are hopeful to have the transplant before the end of the year.
It's time to show Mike how much he means to us and that he is not alone in this fight!This avenue was chosen in hopes that anyone who would like to donate to his fight has the opportunity to do so. Any funds raised will go directly to his bills, medical expenses & time away from work. We know that his spleen shrinking medicine is $3,000 alone! If anyone is unable to make a donation at this time positive vibes, prayers and good juju are highly appreciated.
Thanks for your generosity~
Mike, Katie, Joey and Tracy
The good news is that it's survivable and possibly curable with a bone marrow transplant. This is a serious procedure. He has to have a matched donor, unfortunately with this type of cancer, he’s not able to use his own bone marrow.
Our first step is to give him a drug to shrink his spleen. It needs to be smaller so it can cope with the next steps. Once the spleen is cooperating, and a donor is identified, they will put him in the hospital for about 3 weeks. He’ll have a heavy dose of chemo to essentially kill his current immune system (their words were ‘take him to zero’). This is approximately a 7 day process. Then they will take marrow from the donor and place it in Mike. For the next two weeks he will be in isolation (think bubble boy) until the new cells graft with the remaining cells in his body.
After that he’s looking at a 3-6 month recovery. He can do this in a quarantined home with limited exposure to visitors, super clean house, food with extra preparation, etc. We can keep the dogs but they can't sleep with him. The cat will have to be relocated in the interim. He won’t be able to work during this time.
For a year, he’ll be limited on activities, be building back his immune system and have weekly tests (that feels like nothing after all we’ll have been through). He’ll be starting from scratch on immunizations and will take on the donors immune characteristics. He’s essentially a baby again.
Once he recovers he should be good to go. He’ll have to get checkups and bloodwork for the rest of his life but, hey, it's better than the alternative.
There are many risks. If the new bone marrow is rejected we have to deal with that. If he gets sick--flu, measles, staph infections, etc. that would be a setback. But there are many positives. As I said it's treatable and possibly curable. We have a huge support system here in KC, Iowa and California. We live 3 miles from the hospital so are close if complications arise. We really liked the doctors, staff and facility at KUMed.
We are encouraged by this news. We’d be lying if we said we weren’t scared about the procedure and the recovery but the alternative is scarier.
Mike will start the drug to shrink his spleen and Katie & Joey (Mike’s kids) will be tested. If all goes as planned, the doctors are hopeful to have the transplant before the end of the year.
It's time to show Mike how much he means to us and that he is not alone in this fight!This avenue was chosen in hopes that anyone who would like to donate to his fight has the opportunity to do so. Any funds raised will go directly to his bills, medical expenses & time away from work. We know that his spleen shrinking medicine is $3,000 alone! If anyone is unable to make a donation at this time positive vibes, prayers and good juju are highly appreciated.
Thanks for your generosity~
Mike, Katie, Joey and Tracy
Organizer and beneficiary
Tracy Sheplak McGee
Organizer
Prairie Village, KS
Mike Harrington
Beneficiary
