Carsen’s Fight against Leukemia

Hello, my name is Amanda Hunker and I am creating a GoFundMe for my nephew Carsen Nykanen who is the son of Brad Nykanen/Amii Priem and Angie Curtis. Carsen is a kind, thoughtful and overall great kid who has faced more than most in the past month of his young 21 year-old life.

On July 2nd, Carsen’s family brought him into the St. Luke’s ER after being sick for weeks with multiple trips to Essentia with no real work up and ultimately a Mono diagnosis. After the ER providers at St. Luke’s ran blood tests and assessed him and his symptoms, he was given a devastating diagnosis of Acute Leukemia. Carsen was immediately admitted to St. Luke’s for further testing and treatment, but was transported to Mayo Clinic in Rochester 2 days later, on July 4th, for a higher level of care and treatment.

On July 8th, Carsen was diagnosed with:

T-Myeloid Mixed Phenotype Leukemia. This is a type of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which will require oral and IV chemotherapy along with an eventual bone marrow transplant. He will remain at Mayo Clinic for at least a month or longer for treatment, where he is receiving state of the art care by a team of medical providers who have been amazing.

Due to some setbacks from possible secondary infections vs. leukemic complications, he wasn’t able to start IV chemotherapy and treatment to help treat the cancer until today.

Carsen will be out of work for an unknown amount of time, while he undergoes treatment and fights for his life. He has a long road ahead of him and I am setting up this GoFundMe to help raise money for Carsen, where donations will go directly to him for his medical bills and other expenses.

Prayers for Carsen and his family during this difficult time are greatly appreciated as well! Below is the address for Carsen if you wish to send a card. Please do not send any fresh flowers as they are not permitted on his unit.

Address for Cards (no flowers) :

Mayo Clinic Hospital, Methodist Campus

201 West Center Street, Rochester, MN 55905

Station 7-2

On behalf of Carsen and his family, thank you for your consideration in helping support him during his journey to kick cancer’s butt!