Support for the Gonnella-Erb Family
Donation protected
Jacqueline and Addison Erb are still in the middle of their marathon battle with Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMML) and recovery from the devastating effects of bone marrow transplant. Both of their parents - Brian Erb and Lauren Gonnella - need to extend their leaves from their jobs as the care needs for Jackie, Addi and older sister Olivia are all encompassing and the risk of exposure to pathogens is too dangerous for Addi and Jackie in their severely immunocompromised state.
Brian is a high school Special Education and Biology teacher at Chatham High School and Lauren is a realtor with the GonnellaTeam at Weichert Realtors. Brian hoped to return to work full time at the beginning of this school year, but he will not be able to do so. The total cost of medical bills is still unknown and the family is currently renting an apartment in Philadelphia in order to be closer to CHOP as Addi and Jackie have had 3 additional hospitalizations in the last month and a half.
Much is still unknown for the Gonnella-Erb family and how long Lauren and Brian will need to be on leave from work and the financial repercussions of this. Lauren and Brian are so grateful for all of the help and support they have received and they are committed to the pursuit of better treatments for Leukemia and will donate any funds not used for their family to the amazing doctors and programs at CHOP that are helping save their daughters’ lives.
Pictured above: Lauren & Brian when they originally left the hospital with Jackie & Addi in April 2021 (day 36 after transplant). Unfortunately, it wasn't the last time they were both in the hospital. Read Brian's note below for a recap and to learn more.
A note from Brian:
As many of you know, in the middle of December last year we received the news of nightmares when Jackie was diagnosed with JMML, a rare form of Leukemia. Jackie’s identical twin Addison was also diagnosed with JMML at the beginning of February. Bone Marrow Transplant is the only treatment option for JMML, so we moved down to Philadelphia to have simultaneous Bone Marrow Transplants at CHOP in late February, with my badass wife being their donor and giving life twice to our daughters. Watching Lauren’s cells drip into their bodies is the closest to providence I have ever been.
Lauren, Olivia, Addi, Jackie and I profoundly appreciate all of the love and support we have received through everyone’s prayers, thoughts, meals, GoFundMe donations, good vibes, projects for our girls, gifts, texts, emails, cheek swabs, gift cards etc. This love and support has allowed us to focus solely on saving Addi and Jackie’s lives. It is an unimaginable parental choice to pick a treatment that could kill your child to cure them of a condition that would also kill them. As Dr. Bunin, our amazing Bone Marrow Transplant doctor, said after I thanked her in the ICU with Addi - “We (the doctors) don’t do the work, the families and the patients do. We throw you off a cliff and try to pull you back...but this is the price of cure.”
The day after the last update on this GoFundMe page, Addi choked on a blood clot, went into respiratory failure, coded and we thought we were going to lose her. She spent 8 days intubated and 13 days in the ICU. Luckily, all of my ladies are badasses and with the combination of Lauren’s cells and Addi and Jackie’s ferocity and courage we were able to come home to Summit after 70 days; we were told we would spend at least 100 days living in or close to CHOP.
Another transplant parent told Lauren that transplant is a marathon and after five months we thought we understood this. It had been five long months, but we were ecstatic when we received the Chimerism/Engraftment studies which showed 100% Lauren’s cells. The rate of relapse is terrifyingly high, so 100% Lauren’s cells is where we need to be forever and this IS the reason we went/are going through this hell. We felt we were moving further away from the metaphorical cliff of which we had been thrown off. Addi and Jackie were doing so well that I thought I would be able to return to the classroom this Fall. Then - even though we had been extremely cautious with our exposure only going to doctor’s visits, CVS, the grocery store and Magic fountain masked to pick up online orders - a stomach virus entered our home and it was made clear that we are still still hanging precariously off of the cliff as we fight for cure. Lauren and I felt nothing and Olivia felt tired for a day. Jackie spiked a fever so we took her to the ER in Morristown and she was transferred to CHOP via ambulance. Addi had a post transplant complication exacerbated by the infection, which led to a large pericardial effusion. Jackie spent 6 days back in the hospital and Addi is still in the hospital 17 days later after having her chest emergently drained of excess fluid and then drained daily for the last 16 days.
While inpatient this time, Addi is working on a bead project where different colors represent different courageous things she has done. She has over 570 beads on her strand of courage so far. She has 72 beads for nights in the hospital, 8 for days intubated, two separate beads for ICU visits, 8 beads for various procedures, 17 beads for days with a pericardial drain in her chest, 19 beads for dressing changes, around 20 beads for ECHOs or ultrasounds or x-rays, 17 beads for days in the ICU, around 20 beads for blood transfusions, one huge bead for her Bone Marrow Transplant and one special bead that she got to choose for the thing that she is the most proud of - learning how to talk again after her 8 days of intubation and her initial ICU stay. Learning to walk again was a close second to learning to talk again.
Jackie will also do her bead project when Addi brings the supplies home once she is discharged. Jackie is currently at 72 days in the hospital as she had an additional round of chemotherapy in Morristown prior to transplant.
Life is good and we are so grateful for science and curiously and embracing change and perspective and gratitude and relationships filled with love. And to the “brutal magic of medicine” as Lauren so aptly describes it. We cannot express enough gratitude to the doctors and nurses at CHOP and the giants whose shoulders on which they stand. Their dedication to saving lives, and thinking and learning and changing allowed Lauren to donate her cells to our daughters, something that would not have been possible even a decade ago.
Thank you all and hug and show a little extra love to your loved ones today and tomorrow and the day after and…
With Love
Brian
I’m taking a little liberty with the quote, but…
Here's to badass women
May we know them.
May we marry them.
May we raise them.
Join Team Jackie on Facebook @BetheMatch4JackieAddi
Pictured below - Jackie & Addison channeling it all into their art, adventuring safely in a ski lift, and hanging onto their childhood in their backyard bounce house.
Brian is a high school Special Education and Biology teacher at Chatham High School and Lauren is a realtor with the GonnellaTeam at Weichert Realtors. Brian hoped to return to work full time at the beginning of this school year, but he will not be able to do so. The total cost of medical bills is still unknown and the family is currently renting an apartment in Philadelphia in order to be closer to CHOP as Addi and Jackie have had 3 additional hospitalizations in the last month and a half.
Much is still unknown for the Gonnella-Erb family and how long Lauren and Brian will need to be on leave from work and the financial repercussions of this. Lauren and Brian are so grateful for all of the help and support they have received and they are committed to the pursuit of better treatments for Leukemia and will donate any funds not used for their family to the amazing doctors and programs at CHOP that are helping save their daughters’ lives.
Pictured above: Lauren & Brian when they originally left the hospital with Jackie & Addi in April 2021 (day 36 after transplant). Unfortunately, it wasn't the last time they were both in the hospital. Read Brian's note below for a recap and to learn more.
A note from Brian:
As many of you know, in the middle of December last year we received the news of nightmares when Jackie was diagnosed with JMML, a rare form of Leukemia. Jackie’s identical twin Addison was also diagnosed with JMML at the beginning of February. Bone Marrow Transplant is the only treatment option for JMML, so we moved down to Philadelphia to have simultaneous Bone Marrow Transplants at CHOP in late February, with my badass wife being their donor and giving life twice to our daughters. Watching Lauren’s cells drip into their bodies is the closest to providence I have ever been.
Lauren, Olivia, Addi, Jackie and I profoundly appreciate all of the love and support we have received through everyone’s prayers, thoughts, meals, GoFundMe donations, good vibes, projects for our girls, gifts, texts, emails, cheek swabs, gift cards etc. This love and support has allowed us to focus solely on saving Addi and Jackie’s lives. It is an unimaginable parental choice to pick a treatment that could kill your child to cure them of a condition that would also kill them. As Dr. Bunin, our amazing Bone Marrow Transplant doctor, said after I thanked her in the ICU with Addi - “We (the doctors) don’t do the work, the families and the patients do. We throw you off a cliff and try to pull you back...but this is the price of cure.”
The day after the last update on this GoFundMe page, Addi choked on a blood clot, went into respiratory failure, coded and we thought we were going to lose her. She spent 8 days intubated and 13 days in the ICU. Luckily, all of my ladies are badasses and with the combination of Lauren’s cells and Addi and Jackie’s ferocity and courage we were able to come home to Summit after 70 days; we were told we would spend at least 100 days living in or close to CHOP.
Another transplant parent told Lauren that transplant is a marathon and after five months we thought we understood this. It had been five long months, but we were ecstatic when we received the Chimerism/Engraftment studies which showed 100% Lauren’s cells. The rate of relapse is terrifyingly high, so 100% Lauren’s cells is where we need to be forever and this IS the reason we went/are going through this hell. We felt we were moving further away from the metaphorical cliff of which we had been thrown off. Addi and Jackie were doing so well that I thought I would be able to return to the classroom this Fall. Then - even though we had been extremely cautious with our exposure only going to doctor’s visits, CVS, the grocery store and Magic fountain masked to pick up online orders - a stomach virus entered our home and it was made clear that we are still still hanging precariously off of the cliff as we fight for cure. Lauren and I felt nothing and Olivia felt tired for a day. Jackie spiked a fever so we took her to the ER in Morristown and she was transferred to CHOP via ambulance. Addi had a post transplant complication exacerbated by the infection, which led to a large pericardial effusion. Jackie spent 6 days back in the hospital and Addi is still in the hospital 17 days later after having her chest emergently drained of excess fluid and then drained daily for the last 16 days.
While inpatient this time, Addi is working on a bead project where different colors represent different courageous things she has done. She has over 570 beads on her strand of courage so far. She has 72 beads for nights in the hospital, 8 for days intubated, two separate beads for ICU visits, 8 beads for various procedures, 17 beads for days with a pericardial drain in her chest, 19 beads for dressing changes, around 20 beads for ECHOs or ultrasounds or x-rays, 17 beads for days in the ICU, around 20 beads for blood transfusions, one huge bead for her Bone Marrow Transplant and one special bead that she got to choose for the thing that she is the most proud of - learning how to talk again after her 8 days of intubation and her initial ICU stay. Learning to walk again was a close second to learning to talk again.
Jackie will also do her bead project when Addi brings the supplies home once she is discharged. Jackie is currently at 72 days in the hospital as she had an additional round of chemotherapy in Morristown prior to transplant.
Life is good and we are so grateful for science and curiously and embracing change and perspective and gratitude and relationships filled with love. And to the “brutal magic of medicine” as Lauren so aptly describes it. We cannot express enough gratitude to the doctors and nurses at CHOP and the giants whose shoulders on which they stand. Their dedication to saving lives, and thinking and learning and changing allowed Lauren to donate her cells to our daughters, something that would not have been possible even a decade ago.
Thank you all and hug and show a little extra love to your loved ones today and tomorrow and the day after and…
With Love
Brian
I’m taking a little liberty with the quote, but…
Here's to badass women
May we know them.
May we marry them.
May we raise them.
Join Team Jackie on Facebook @BetheMatch4JackieAddi
Pictured below - Jackie & Addison channeling it all into their art, adventuring safely in a ski lift, and hanging onto their childhood in their backyard bounce house.
Organizer and beneficiary
Team Jackie
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Brian Erb
Beneficiary