Jessica's Journey in her battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

My name is Sheryl, I am launching this fundraiser on behalf of my cousin Jessica who needs our help desperately. Her journey has been truly unbelievable.

Jessica's Journey so far...

On Wednesday, July 17th Jessica noticed a small bump behind her ear and went to her primary care. Her doctor told her she looked healthy, but he would do some blood work. He told her she looked good and to continue to live her life normally. Jessica left the doctor and the next day went to the Orange Theory, worked out and then proceeded to go to work. On Thursday, July 18th her doctor called and told her something was very wrong. He described her blood work as being very concerning. He told her she needed to leave work immediately and go to the hospital. On the morning of Friday July 19th, a team of doctors came into her room in the ER and told her she was in for a whirlwind of testing including a CT scan, a MRI, a bone marrow biopsy and more labs than she could count. How could this be? 48 Hours ago she was healthy, active and planning her 40th birthday party. She had no idea what any of this meant but was about to find out. The next 8 hours of testing seemed to happen in slow motion. The hours felt like days.

She was in NYC, far from her family. How on earth could this be happening? She was fine on Wednesday. It is 6:30pm on Friday July 19th, the doctors came in and her life changed forever. They told her that her white blood count had doubled going from 40,000 to 75,000 and that she could have only hours to live. Her diagnosis was AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). They told her she needed to start aggressive Chemo in the next hour as once her blood count reached 100,000 she would be untreatable (& her organs would begin to fail). She wanted to move hospitals - to go to Boston where her family was, but there was no time. Her only choice was to remain in NYC and start aggressive induction chemotherapy (& remember, at this time she didn't even know what this meant) as her family arranged to get to NYC (on the day of the Crowdstrike failure) to support her through what she was told would be a month long hospitalization. She was admitted into the Hematology floor at NYU Langone where she was told she would spend the next 3-4 weeks under the care of a hematology and oncology team undergoing treatment in attempt to get her into remission. She was told she would be severely "immunocompromised". Her 24x7 chemotherapy treatment started Friday night at 8pm in conjunction with a "push" chemotherapy at 10pm that I can only describe as a kerosene that was injected over the course of an hour mainstreamed into her heart via PICC line. During the first few days she could talk and walk but was growing weaker. We were watching her fade. It was unbelievable to watch and not in a good way. Jessica was the healthiest person I knew. She isn't even 40 years old. How was this possible? She ate right, she exercised, she took incredible care of herself. She was soo strong. There had to be a mistake. How could someone soo young and soo healthy be this sick? If only we had known that the worst was still yet to come. Her parents had arrived in NYC and set up in a hotel. On Sunday, July 21st Jessica started to experience trouble breathing. The tests showed she had fluid in her lungs. The doctors diagnosed her as having pneumonia as a result of being immunocompromised. She was placed on oxygen but within a matter of hours that was not enough to maintain her oxygen at a safe level. The x-rays had deteriorated, and her oxygen stats were alarming. By 2am on Monday morning, Jessica was in severe distress and critical condition. Her proxy had to be enacted. Something was very wrong. She was transported to ICU and the decision was made to put her on a ventilator in the hope to save her life. Her chemo had to be stopped, as the priority needed to be for her to breathe. Stopping the chemo meant that her white blood counts would continue to grow and that she may not get into remission. The prognosis was scary, and the options to diagnosis and treat her were even more scary. Jessica was fighting for her life. Her family had to make choices that I can only describe now as devastating. Through a very risky biopsy procedure, she was diagnosed as having DAH (Diffused Alveolar Hemorrhage in her lungs). Her lungs were full of blood. What the doctor's described was not hopeful. She spent the next 4 days with a ventilator breathing for her, but by day 3 she was showing signs of improvement. She started to flicker her eyes and move her toes. It was a miracle. The doctor's couldn't believe it. They described her as a medical miracle. The decision was made to restart induction Chemo on Friday even though she was on the ventilator and in ICU. If they did not restart the chemo, the chances of surviving the AML would not have been good. On Saturday, one week and one day after she was admitted into hospital, she was removed from the ventilator and began breathing on her own again (high flow oxygen assisted) Throughout this time Jessica received countless transfusions of blood and platelets. She continued on induction chemotherapy and remained in the hospital as the incredible doctors helped her to get to safe enough levels to transport her to the Dana Farber Cancer Center in Boston to be closer to her family. While Jessica has not achieved remission, she is a miracle and continues to fight. She has overcome so much. We know she has the fight to get into remission. Jessica is home in Boston and continuing her treatments. She will go through 4-5 more rounds of aggressive chemotherapy.

This fundraiser is to cover the expenses incurred medically and for her family as they remained by her side while in NYC. The funds will also help to support the things Jessica will need as she continues her journey as she will continue through treatments for the next 6+ months. She will post the next updates of her progressions. She needs your prayers & your support as she cannot and will not have the ability to work for an extended period of time. Appreciate anything you are able to do, even if it just a prayer. If everyone gives a little, it will mean A LOT!

Huge thank you from Jessica to all of the family & friends that have already helped her get to where she is. She couldn't have done it without you!

Soo many people have helped to support Jessica to date from the endless prayers, to helping her to get to Boston, visiting with her to keep her mind occupied & for all of the clothing, blankets & goodies/food provided as this journey has had many unintended consequences. She knows she has a village of people fighting along side her. She appreciates you all from the bottoms of her heart!