Debra Thompson

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Deb was diagnosed with stage 2a cancer in her right breast in October of 2010. She had a mastectomy in December and then started chemotherapy in January which completed in April. The chemo drugs given to her were cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin (AC), followed by Taxol. She has been cancer free since then and was having regular six month checkups with her oncologist.

On her appointment in July 2017, they found that her white blood cell count (WBC) had fallen below the normal range. Since her B12 was also low, the doctor decided to put her on a B12 supplement and recheck in six weeks. The results from this test showed that although her B12 was now fine, her WBC had fallen even lower and her RBC and platelets had also fallen below the normal range.

On Friday August 25th Deb had a bone marrow biopsy performed and was admitted to Methodist hospital. By late afternoon the results came in and Deb was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) since the pathologist had found a count of 29% abnormal immature blood cells (blasts) in her marrow. This was most certainly caused by the AC drug regimen she had been treated with back in 2011.

On Saturday she had a port put in and they started her on a seven day remission induction chemo regimen of Idamycin (3 injections) and Cytarabine (24 hour a day drip). The goal is to get her into a remission state. She is looking at a 28 day hospital stay. After 14 days she will have another bone marrow biopsy to confirm that her bone marrow has been wiped out. At 28 days she will have another one where they hope to see just normal blood cells growing back. Once she reaches remission, we will be looking at the possibility of a bone marrow transplant.

Please pray for minimal side effects as she goes through this and that full remission is achieved.