As many of you know I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Her-2+ breast cancer in April, 2021. I went through a year and a half of treatments... neo-adjuvant chemo, mastectomy, more chemo, 30 rounds of radiation and then 2 phases of breast reconstruction. Whew!.. I survived that and was working on regaining my strength enough to get back to walking 5-k races. I had sorely missed it and something my family does together. It was great to not sit on the sidelines anymore.
In August of 2023 | went to Quest to have routine bloodwork done for my primary care physician. The results dropped that same day (this never happens) right as l was parking my car to meet a dear friend for lunch. I had not seen Kris in months and she just happened to be an expert in hematology. When I saw the results I knew something was not right. Kris shared the results with several hematologist friends of hers and they advised to see my med-onc as soon as possible. Efforts to stimulate blood cell growth were unsuccessful. I received a call from my med-onc on Oct 2nd and he informed me that I had 42% spillage of blast cells into my peripheral blood system….this is not good and indicative of leukemia. I reported to Houston Methodist Medical center on that same day, had a bone marrow biopsy and was confirmed that same week that I had leukemia. I went through a rough regimen of induction and consolidation chemo, I was in the hospital for 5 weeks. After a short break I was readmitted late Jan, 2024 to prepare my body for a bone marrow transplant. My brother was a match and ended being my donor. I received my bone marrow transplant on Feb. 8th. The first 100 days were critical and I was kept under a very restricted environment. I am now 6 months out from transplant and after several bone marrow biopsies I am blessed to report that it shows 100% donor cells and negative MRD (minimal residual disease….No Leukemia!). The goal is Feb. 8th, 2025!
The hope here is for researchers to find better regimens to treat breast cancer so the patient’s body doesn’t take the brunt of the damage chemo/radiation does that would cause a patient to develop a secondary leukemia stemming from their treatments.
I would appreciate your support in my journey if you so feel moved to. For my local peeps, if you would like to join my team I would be honored.
Thank YOU!!!
Race for the Cure Alumni
Team Captain
