RANDY Bultman Randy's Trip to a Cure

First post: Feb 3, 2018 Latest post: Feb 27, 2018
Hello, my name is Rachel Bultman and this is my dad’s story. 

My dad‘s name is Randy Bultman. He is the father of three children, Tara (27), Jacob (25), and myself (21). He is also happily married to my mom, Valerie, for what is going to be 28 years in March. My dad has always and continues to be the best dad anyone could ever ask for. Coaching all of us through sports when we were younger, giving us advice, and being there for us whenever we needed him to be. But in the summer of 2016, he started experiencing crippling pains throughout his body before settling in his hips in the beginning of September. On September 24th 2016, he was taken to the emergency room at Meriter hospital in Madison. After a CBC and a bone marrow biopsy, my family was shook to the core with the worse news anyone could ever hear. The doctors told us that my dad has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), which is a type of Cancer commonly found in children. After 7 months of chemotherapy, my dad underwent a bone marrow transplant, harvesting from the hips, with me (Rachel) being his donor. 

Randy accepted the bone marrow with little to no complications and attempted to go back living normally for the time being. He went back to being the avid hunter, fisher, and lumberjack he was before our lives were flipped upside down Once more. 

On November 29th 2017, during a routine bone marrow biopsy, there was some concerns that the leukemia had come back. On November 30th, the concerns were confirmed and he was admitted to the hosp the next day to start chemo. After two rounds of chemo in two weeks, he was rushed to the ER at UW Hospital in Madison. He was able to walk into the ER by himself but collapsed upon reaching the room. He was admitted for sepsis and typhilitis (which is irritation of the large intestine), started on antibiotics, and spent sometime in the ICU before making his way to the oncology unit But his blood counts were still too low for healing. We were informed by the doctors that if his body didn’t decide to heal on its own there was nothing more they could do for him. That was the first time I was hit with the poss that I might not have a dad anymore. But he fought and regained strength and exceeded the expectations the doctors set for him. He went home on December 27th, 2017. At his routine clinic visit, we were informed he’d been accepted into a clinical trial in Chicago called CAR T-cell therapy. It m and that they remove white blood cells called T-cells, supercharge them to specifically go after the cancer cells, and then put them back in the body to let them work. But in order to do that my parents are going to need to stay in Chicago, which is 3 hours away from home, for 5-6weeks so that my dad can receive this cure seeking treatment. Leaving my sister Tara and I to take care of and look after our brother who is autistic and has a sizeable aortic aneurysm and our two puppies, Pixie and Hildi. Unfortunately the costs are quite high and my parents need between $3000 and $5000 to be able to Pay for lodging, gas, and meals. 

If you can donate anything, no matter how small, it would be wonderfully appreciated. My parents have never been one to ask for help in anyway but I’m setting this up with the assistants of the Bone Marrow Foundation in hopes to ease the stress of finances so they can just focus on healing. 

Thank you so much in advance for you generosity! For more information about CAR T-cell therapy there is a video listed you can watch!

God Bless,

The Bultman Family

CaringBridge is a nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey. Learn more about CaringBridge.

To interact with RANDY’s website, sign in or register today.

By registering with CaringBridge, you will join over 300,000 people a day who are supporting friends and family members.

Sign In Or Register
SVG_Icons_Back_To_Top
Top