Brenda's Battle Against MDS
Donation protected
To know Brenda is truly to love her. She's your biggest cheerleader, your best friend, and the life of the party. She's an amazing wife, mom, daughter, sister, and aunt.
And right now, she needs your help more than ever.
Here's why: Brenda was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) with 5Q Deletion in February of 2017. For the past few years, she has been managing her diagnosis with transfusions and medication, including chemotherapy. Things seemed to be progressing, but very slowly. Life was continuing mostly as normal, until recently.
In the last year, things seemed to take a turn and Brenda was requiring more frequent transfusions (sometimes needing more blood than was available) and was still being impacted by extreme fatigue and generally feeling unwell. Several months ago another mutation was discovered, depleting all chances of survival past one year.
The only hope for extending her life expectancy is a Bone Marrow transplant. All of Brenda's siblings volunteered and were tested to see if they could be a match for the donor, and as many would suspect Bretta is a 100% match to be her donor. If you know Brenda and Bretta, this should come as no surprise because they have been two peas in a pod since they were tiny girls! (Brian was also a match, but Bretta is the preferred donor since she is a female.)
Brenda and John recently traveled to MD Anderson to develop a plan for transplant and learned the journey is going to be long and difficult; physically, emotionally, and financially. Tentatively the transplant is planned for April and Brenda will need to be hospitalized for 30-60 days, depending on how her body is reacting to the transplant. After the hospitalization, she will need to remain within 15 minutes of the hospital for 1 to 4 months, during which she will require 24/7 care.
Brenda is obviously going to shoulder the physical part of this battle, but let's do what we can to lift her up emotionally and shoulder the financial part! There are going to be significant out-of-pocket expenses, including travel for Brenda and John (who will need to be going back and forth during her treatment), housing and care during the months after her initial hospitalization, meals, and other miscellaneous expenses.
This is how we can support Brenda during this time of need. Let's come together as a community to show her love and let her know we care!
Fundraising team (2)
Krista Thompson
Organizer
Olathe, KS
Brenda Hunter
Beneficiary
Kelsi Green
Team member