Rhonda Ethen Rally for Rhonda

Rhonda Rae Ethen, daughter of Randy and Arlene Neubauer of Kenmare, was recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. This type of cancer is treatable, but Rhonda has a long road ahead of her. Rhonda spends most her days taking care of her children - Sloan aged 10, Chloe 7, Lillian 6, and Rylan 2 years old. Beautiful little Lillian has Aicardi Syndrome, and requires lots of extra care and expert treatments that her mother is uniquely qualified to provide to her. On May 23rd of this year, Rhonda noticed she had spots like broken blood vessels on her abdomen and thighs. Her body ached all over. As the week continued, more spots appeared on her legs and arms and she began to bruise very easily. May 30th, Rhonda went to the Kenmare Clinic where they performed tests and discovered her platelet count was only 8000. Regularly, your platelet levels need to be above 150,000. The doctor set up on appointment in Minot with a hematologist for the following day. The doctor in Minot originally thought she had ITP, and Rhonda underwent immunoglobulin therapy. The next day, the doctor suggested it could be leukemia and a bone marrow biopsy was performed. On June 6th, the doctor gave Rhonda her diagnosis - Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Rhonda's doctors have started their referral of her to Mayo Clinic.