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Donations can be made to Chase's paypal account to help with medical expenses, gas etc:
the link to paypal's home page is:
https://www.paypal.com/us/homeclick on log in or sign up in the upper right hand corner, then choose send/request money and type in his email address: chasescancerfund@gmail.com
Or Donations can be sent to Premier Members Credit Union c/o Chase's cancer fund at PO Box 4049, Estes Park Co 80517
Last we have a go-fund me page at:
https://www.gofundme.com/chase-fights-leukemia**************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Chase Murray, a 15 year old STUD, has been training all summer for the upcoming XC season, running trails and putting in 15+ miles per week at 8,000+ feet in elevation, up trails in RMNP and through Estes. He noticed around the end of June that he was still having a hard time and not improving but kept running. He would recover quickly and worked his summer job as usual with no problems so mom just thought he was being lazy! However, as his identical twin Cole, got faster and faster and Chase lagged far behind, so his coach reached out to mom with concern that something was wrong with Chase. On August 16th we went to the doctor and had some blood work done thinking maybe Chase had mono. Within an hour we were called to return to the doctor's office immediately by her VERY concerned voice. She shows us Chase's blood counts, all were dangerously low....mom cried knowing in her gut it might be leukemia...Chase cried too because ... well mom never cries like that so it had to be bad. Doc says here's an address to the best children's oncology hospital in Denver....go NOW and ask for Dr. Ball. Holy cow....we were petrified and ran home, packed a couple of things, told Cole we were leaving and to find a ride to work and off we went.
We arrived at the hospital and they did more tests, Dad meets us, we wait hours to see a doctor to see what is going on. Finally around 10 pm the doctor checks in and says based on his blood levels it could be either leukemia or aplastic anemia and we will need a bone marrow biopsy done to determine what the problem truly is. Either one is horrible with long treatments.
Friday morning we go in for the biopsy. Chase gets his first experience with anesthesia. They go into the back of both sides of his hips to pull samples of his bone marrow out. Dr. Ball comes out and says that he won't have the results for hours but the consistency of the sample looks much like leukemia.....whoa, the worst nightmare ever has begun. We were numb, petrified, stunned and breathless.
We go back and see Chase as he wakes up and is as loopy as ever....quite comical given the circumstances! Then we go back to his hospital room and wait and wait and wait, excruitaingly long hours go by.....finally at nearly 10 pm the doctor comes in. Yes it is indeed leukemia, A.L.L. whatever that acronym is but it determines the cocktail of nasty chemicals they dump into this perfect boy's body. The oncologist sweetly spends 2 hours explaining what leukemia is, what is happening with the blood, the cancer cells, the treatment Chase will get, every drug they will give him, the side effects, the long 3 1/2 year treatment he will receive and more information then either mom or dad could fully absorb. Chase was there too...dazed and confused...overwhelmed that his teenage invincibility is now compromised. Tomorrow we start the beginning of our new normal.
Saturday, August 18, Chase is taken to surgery again. This time to have a central line or port implanted in his chest, connected to a large vein all under his skin so that he can be given drugs and blood can be taken easily without poking him. They also drew spinal fluid to test for leukemia in his spine as well as administered chemo drugs directly into his spinal fluid (we do not want leukemia cells in his spine!). After Chase recovered from that, the nurses came into his room to start his chemo treatments. He gets lots of antibiotics and an anti fungal drug to prevent mouth sores and prednisone along with nasty chemo drugs that turn his pee red...geez! This will continue every week for a month during this 'induction' stage of chemo with the intent of attacking his leukemia and hopefully knocking it down. But that's not the end, oh no....it's just the beginning, however, we are told this first month is the most intense with the worst side effects. He will lose his hair, have a very compromised immune system, feel nauseous, possible mouth sores....oh the list goes on and on.
Sunday, August 19 Chase reacted horribly to all of the drugs he'd been given. He is constantly nauseous, vomitted multiple times and now is a fall risk (walks like a drunk 80 year old man!) He is groggy and only wants to sleep. Finally after trying multiple different anti-nausea drugs, we found one that worked! He perked up and ate late in the afternoon (pancakes....the dinner of champions!). His stability with walking is improving but he is still very sleepy. Our goal is to be able to leave the hospital after these first 4 days of treatment so Chase can finally have some normalcy again. It all depends on how his body reacts to this treatment so hopefully tomorrow we will continue to see improvement.
Monday, August 20 Chase is a different kiddo today! He can walk alone, is eating and even took a shower! He played on his xbox most of the day. At one point he says, "I can't believe I have cancer." None of us can....but he's a trooper and handling it better then most adults. We are so proud of this kid!
CHASE'S ADDRESS in case anyone wants to send cards: 1221 Prospect Mountain Rd, Estes Park, CO 80517
or for the teenagers, they can contact him on snap chat at: chasehase85
