Nancy Galasso

Hi friends and family! As we know, my mom will be starting her journey with her auto stem cell transplant on July 24th to cure her from mantle cell lymphoma! My mom is the strongest person I know. In March, she felt some pain in her abdominal area. It was a pretty intense pain. After her doctor sent her for a cat scan they saw that she had 3 tumors in her abdominal area. She immediately went to her oncologist (Dr. Leonard) at Weill Cornell and after numerous tests and a biopsy they found that she had mantle cell lymphoma. It is a very aggressive form of lymphoma. She started chemotherapy at Weill Cornell which required about 4-5 days receiving treatment at the hospital. The toughest days for my mom would be about a week after treatment where she would become neutropenic. After completing 4 rounds of aggressive chemo her team decided the best way to cure my mom would be a stem cell transplant. After a clean bone marrow biopsy and a petscan showing a significant decrease in size of her tumors, she met the criteria for an autologous stem cell transplant where they will use her own stem cells. So July 24th, she will start a different chemotherapy regimen and stay at the Helmsley Medical Tower apartments for two weeks where they will watch her daily. After those two weeks is over it is time for the transplant! She will be in the hospital for a few weeks and then back to the medical tower apartments to see how she recovers.  My step dad Dan will be with her throughout all of this and will be able to stay with her as he has not left her side at all. He has been the best husband, father, and support system our family has had throughout this whole process. My mom is the strongest person I know and has the strongest family and friends behind her. She is blessed with 6 grandchildren and 3 on the way! My mom will  beat this being the strongest person I know.