Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. Thank you for your prayers, words of hope, and support Here is Greg's story: The past few months have been a journey for our family. For the past few months Greg has been feeling off; run down, exhausted, generally unwell. He continued working through these struggles because that is the type of man he has always been; hard working, resilient, and strong. Around February, Greg began to notice unusual swelling in his feet and lower legs. This led us to taking our first steps in figuring out what was really going on with his body. We scheduled a few appointments with our regular MD without receiving any solid answers. It wasn't until a few months later that we finally decided that we had to take further action figuring this out. In the end of April Greg was admitted into the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. There we ended up staying for a few days having a number of different tests performed. His condition was worsening and we needed answers. After a number of tests, Greg was diagnosed with Amyloidosis (AL). This is a rare disease that occurs when a substance called amyloid builds up in your organs. Amyloid is an abnormal protein that is produced in your bone marrow and can be deposited in any tissue or organ. Amyloidosis can affect different organs in different people, Greg's case is affecting his kidneys and digestive system. (Mayo Clinic). There is no cure for Amyloidosis, but there are treatments that can help manage the disease. One of the treatments commonly used is chemotherapy.
Beginning in early May Greg began having weekly chemotherapy treatments to suppress the amyloids in his blood. He will continue these treatments into Autumn and conclude his chemotherapy with a stem cell transplant in mid-September. Greg is currently reacting positively to the chemotherapy treatments and along with the support of his family and friends is doing his best to remain optimistic for the challenging months to come.
His family would just like to say thank you to all those who have visited, kept him in his prayers and helped out in this trying time. Thank you for visiting this site and for the continued prayers and positive energy being sent our way.
