Donations for Dad
"You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice"
Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia
The first cancer that my dad was diagnosed with was Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) when I was in the early years of elementary school. At that time I didn't know much about it except that I could now be a nurse at home; of course I was excited about that.
Little did I know that this was a cancer of the blood cells. Although it can be treated and many patients survive, around 85-90 percent, it still causes the same grueling effects as most other cancers. APL is most commonly found in children, so it was a unique circumstance for my dad to get it.
APL is when the bone marrow produces too many cells called promyelocytes that eventually outweigh the number of healthy cells. These promyelocytes lower the number of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. In my dad's case, his platelets were always drastically lower than a normal person's, and it caused the doctors to worry. If he were to fall or be hit hard with something, he could potentially bleed out because he lacked enough platelets to clot the blood. Most of the time, he would be covered in bruises from the effects of his blood counts being the way they were, so his normal cancer treatment routine included platelet transfusions to increase his blood count and chemotherapy.
For years I got to watch the effects of chemotherapy wither away a person's body, and it always amazed me how something that is helping save your life is also making it miserable. My dad beat APL not once but twice! We were thrilled that we would never have to hear the "C" word again, and we didn't for many years. Unfortunately in the summer of 2015, things started to go downhill and we were introduced to the cancer below.
Myelodysplastic Syndrome
I'm sure most people are thinking "What in the world is that?," and trust me, we thought the same thing at first. Basically, it's cancer from going through cancer treatment previously. Yes, it's getting cancer from having cancer. How unfair and heartbreaking is that? Once we found out that my dad had this, we read flyer after flyer trying to understand what this meant for the future. In the end, we found out that it was yet another problem with his bone marrow from a result of chemotherapy and a chromosome abnormality. This time around, his blood counts dropped to levels much lower than he ever had with APL, and that was scary to think about. Sometimes we wanted to just wrap him up in bubble wrap to go outside.
With the help of the wonderful doctor's he had, they worked out a treatment plan. Most treatment for MDS is a combination of different factors working together. we learned that the MDS would be tolerable with frequent infusions. It wasn't until we started really looking closely that we realized time was limited. It wasn't limited to a super short time span, but it was definitely limited to a number of years. It was heartbreaking yet again watching him go to the doctor so many times a week just to have a chance at survival. MDS did not take as large of a toll on him as the APL did physically, but he did have more bruises covering his body. As we were working towards the end goal of a stem cell transplant, we were given the worst news I have ever been given in my entire life. The third form of cancer was here.
Pancreatic Cancer
From the time I was able to really understand what cancer was, I started learning more about it. With my previous knowledge of cancer, hearing my mom try to tell me through her tears that my dad had pancreatic cancer is a feeling I will never forget. Pancreatic cancer is fatal; it just put another time clock on the already ticking time that the MDS left us with. About 20% of pancreatic cancer patients survive about a year, and about 7% survive around five years. I was a junior in high school at the time, and knowing that my dad would probably not be at my 2017 high school graduation killed me every single day; it still does.
From my own story, you can probably infer that pancreatic cancer doesn't leave many options for treatment. Right now they still classify pancreatic cancer as incurable. The most common form of treatment is a whipple procedure to remove the tumor. After many tests, my dad was cleared to go through with the whipple. It was our tiny glimmer of hope at the end of a mile long tunnel. It's obvious that my dad did not have the best luck up to this point, and the bad luck definitely didn't stop there. When they went to do the whipple, they discovered that the tumor was wrapped around a major blood vessel; the hope was gone. The doctors did everything they could do to prolong his time by inserting a stent to help flush his organs and relieve the pancreas from the overloading cancer.
Most pancreatic cancer patients are known for their jaundice, yellowing of the skin and eyes. Patients also deal with a sudden drop in weight and strength along with excessive bleeding and pain. By learning from experience I can tell you that pancreatic cancer eventually develops so much control over someone's body that they can't physically fight any longer. It's a sudden process that continues to blow my mind everyday. From my experience with my dad, I can also tell you that cancer is an extremely powerful disease, but cancer patients are the strongest people on this earth. They amaze me. I hope to one day help these strong individuals fight their battle, and these baskets are my first step in giving back to them.
Click image to go to the
Leukemia Society website
Click the image to go to the
National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation website
Click the image to go to the
MDS Foundation website