The amount of support I have received has been astronomical. I cannot believe how many of you have donated your time, money and love to my husband and I. Words cannot express the gratitude Sean Karkazis and I feel for all your generosity. I would like to give everyone an update as to where we are in my treatment.
I am on day 15 of taking my cancer killers (Chemo drugs) and I am responding well to the treatment. Yesterday Sean and I went down to Stanford for my second bone marrow biopsy. Pending the results, we will then find out if I am to maintain my current treatment method or may have to increase my chemo intake. We are hoping that the amount of my compromised bone marrow is below 20% so that I am one step closer for transplant. When I first arrived, 45% of my bone marrow was compromised, my blood presented with blasts and my white blood cell count was 30,000. After 2 weeks of treatment, my white blood cell count is down and I no longer have any blasts! smile emoticon Please keep your fingers crossed for under 20% for my bone marrow! I will be meeting with my bone marrow transplant team on the 29th of April to discuss further the process for the transplant.
As far as the gofundme account, Sean and I are extremely grateful for all your donations and wish to share with you what we are planning to use it for. Before I undergo a bone marrow transplant, my oncology team will have to up my radiation and reset my immune system to 0. This way the donated bone marrow, (hopefully my brother is a match), will not be targeted as foreign and, instead, become part of my body. Due to the increased radiation and chemotherapy, we are seeing a fertility doctor who specializes in pregnancy during and after cancer. The money that you have all generously donated will be put towards cryogenically collecting, fertilizing and freezing my eggs, to ensure that Sean and I can have children after my treatment. . The interesting thing about this is, after they freeze our fertilized embryos, they are able to analyze the embryo DNA and remove many genetic illnesses or diseases before implanting them into me. The money that we are receiving will be covering this process and for that, we thank you all so much for ensuring that Sean and myself can have children, once this nightmare has ended. This has given me more motivation to fight through Leukemia, as I cannot wait to carry our child after my cancer is gone! smile emoticon
We love all of you so much and feel so loved and supported in return. We will try to give everyone updates as we go, but we don't want to send you guys for loops or a roller coaster ride, so we will wait until we know results for sure. While in the hospital, some close friends of ours gave us a stuffed elephant. I feel like out of anything, this animal signifies our journey. Elephants are smart, show empathy and take care of their own. With all the support we have received, I can't help but feel like a baby elephant surrounded by her loving female group members. ( yes males do not live in groups, but in this case I feel like this animal is good luck and a symbol for the amount of love and support that surrounds us). Now you all may think I'm crazy, but I do have chemo brain and I will play the cancer card on this one. LOL smile emoticon I highly recommend the documentary "Born To Be Wild". I believe it is on Netflix, (Netflix is my life right now) but it follows orphaned orangutan and elephants; and is an amazing story! Ok I have rambled on enough. Thank you all again for everything you have done and offered. Sean and I send all our love to you, your families and your loved ones. #Ashstrong #kickasskarkazis #fuckleukemia #wegotthis #cancersucks #carpediem
#ashkicker #chemobrain #cancercanbefunny #letsdothis #elephantsrock #support #lucky #fortunate #bestsupportever
