Corey Burton

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Corey was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia on July 11, 2018.  This came as a huge shock because Corey has always been in great shape and works out daily.  About 2-3 weeks prior to diagnosis, he noticed strange bruising and the simplest cuts would take an excessive time to clot.  On June 24th, he developed a bump on his left inner knee.  A trip to the clinic diagnosed it as a spider bite, which seemed logical as he had been cleaning out the basement and moving boxes.  We left for Cancun, Mexico on June 30th and while there, Corey developed a rash all over his feet and up his ankles - sand rash we suspected - from the beach.  His lower left leg continued to get worse from the "bite" and he developed several more bumps on that leg.   By the end of our trip, it bothered him so much that he was even starting to limp.  We arrived back home late on July 6th and Corey went back to the clinic on July 8th.  By Wednesday, July 11th, things were getting worse, not better.  He was definitely favoring that left leg and the bruising kept getting worse.  His bruises weren't your "normal" brown bruises - these were deep purple, almost birthmark-like bruises.  He went back to the clinic that day and they ran blood work.  Corey received a call at 7:00 p.m. to get to the Emergency Room immediately.  We arrived at Hays Med and were told of the suspected leukemia diagnosis and we were referred on to KU Medical Center in Kansas City.  We left immediately and arrived at KU Med around 2:30 a.m. Thursday morning.  They immediately performed a bone marrow biopsy and the AML diagnosis was confirmed.  Corey started IV chemo that night.  The biopsy results also revealed that Corey has a mutation within his cancer - kind of a cancer within his cancer - that requires another type of oral chemo.  This mutation greatly increases his chance of relapse and we were informed that a bone marrow transplant was our best option.  Corey's bone marrow biopsies (BMB) on Day 21 and Day 28 revealed that his cancer is currently in remission; however, with the FLT 3 mutation,  he must undergo maintenance chemo to keep the leukemia at bay while we wait for the transplant.  He is currently in KC undergoing an out-patient maintenance round of chemo to keep him in remission while a donor is found.   

Please note that the donation button at the end of the site is a donation to Caring Bridge, NOT to Corey's medical fund.  We are NOT soliciting donations, but we have had several people ask, and yes, we do have a medical fund set up in Corey's name at Equity Bank.  We just wanted to make sure that visitors to the site make a donation to the cause they intend to.