Shirley Van Hemert-Ward Shirley Van Hemert-Ward

Mom has been fighting a vicious disease for a year now and just in the last few weeks, it's evident that the disease is winning. It started about a year ago when it was discovered that she had a form of myelodysplagia/myelofibrosis...a disease that attacks the bone marrow. It surfaced with Mom experiencing severe anemia and shortness of breath in the Fall 2015 and further exploration and bone marrow tests showed this result....including a second opinion from Mayo Clinic. She was not a candidate for T-cell transplant and other chemo options just didn't promise much positive results. The only thing she could do is blood transfusions when her hemoglobin went down and that's what she's been doing since then. 
Now the blood transfusions have been less effective...she has had over 100 units of blood. And the fluid volume has made it tough on her lungs with heart failure. She has been experiencing more shortness of breath over the last month, having to have it managed in the hospital frequently.  To  add insult to injury, she also now has leukemia on top of it all. She's tired and sad that it has come to this...and now is exploring the option of entering Hospice. 
In order to slow down all the phone calls and texts, I thought it was time to open an account at Caring Bridge. We had used it successfully for my son-in-law Harold and would invite you to follow us on this one, too. The process to follow is easy and we look forward to hearing from you.