Amanda Toms

As many of your know, Amanda had been dealing with a great deal of pain and loss of movement in her left arm. The original diagnosis was a rare neurological disorder called Parsonage Turner Syndrome (PTS). For those of you that don't know that diagnosis changed on New Year's Day. 
12/31: Amanda began experiencing increased pain and swelling in her left hand. More concerning, she had tingling throughout her legs. Amanda was taken to the ER at UC West Chester. There they began blood thinner treatment right away for a blood clot that was detected the day after Christmas. Monitoring the blood thinner medication required her to be admitted. 
1/1: Along with the tingling in her legs Amanda began to loose coordination and movement in her legs. The doctors were of course concerned and decided to do a MRI of her thoracic spine. Monday evening the worst news was confirmed. The MRI revealed a mass in her spinal column that was compressing her spinal cord causing the loss of function from basically her belly button down. That night Amanda was transferred to University Medical Center in Clifton. Thus began Amanda's story.
1/2-1/7: Tuesday - Sunday was a whirlwind of activity. Tuesday Amanda had her first radiation treatment with the hopes of starting to shrink the tumor and relive the compression on her spinal cord. Wednesday a PET scan reveilled what we had thought to be PTS was actually the cancer infiltrating her humerus bone resulting in an approximately 3" fracture. Wednesday was also the day the diagnosis of multiple myeloma was given and plans were put in place to be transferred to the world renowned care of Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.Thursday Amanda had a surgery to place a rod from her shoulder to her elbow to stabilize her arm. Friday she had a third radiation treatment and began chemo later that night. Saturday provided a bit of rest and relaxation before her flight to Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona on Sunday.