Karen’s Story

Site created on April 15, 2018


Eight years ago our mom was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Her journey on oral chemotherapy started then, and it has been a long, and often difficult, road for us as a family.  She is unable to tolerate the medications required to keep her well, and last week at MD Anderson, her physicians started her down the path of a bone marrow transplant. The next phase of this journey is going to be challenging for her, but she is blessed with all of you - her family and friends. This site is for all of you.

We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place.  If you click on the tab 'Ways to Help' at the top, that will direct you to our calendar as well as the GoFundMe Page created to help with all of the unexpected medical costs and living expenses during this journey. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Emily Smith

The past couple of weeks have been very eventful. Mom was discharged from the hospital this past Sunday and is in the next phase of her journey, in an apartment next to the hospital. This week she went in to MDA for her transfusions, blood work and she also received the first bone marrow biopsy results post transplant. All of her blood work is looking normal and the biopsy showed that she is cancer free! This biopsy will be re-done every 30 days to ensure she stays cancer free. 

Her primary struggle is eating. She has zero appetite and food still tastes awful. She has lost 50lbs thus far and is still losing from her inability to eat much of anything. However she is feeling much better than she had been while in the hospital but we are not out of the woods yet. She will be in the apartment for at least 1-2 months and her main objective is to not catch an infection as that could be catastrophic to her health. As a result, visitors are not allowed quite yet as we are going into flu season. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I know she appreciates all of the support and encouragement. 
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