Help Alayna Garcia Fight Cancer

My cousin Alayna's Cancer Story

In the fall of 2017, Alayna was seeing an injury doctor for her knees, back and shoulders. One of her scans came back abnormal and it showed small tumors in her shoulder and she was told to see a regular doctor to do further testing, but she ignored their orders. A course of action we don’t recommend to anyone when you are told that you have abnormal scans, and one day she had pain in her shoulders and ribs that was so excruciating she had to go to the ER. They did a cat scan and it showed lesions on her ribs, shoulders, arms and legs. Alayna’s life forever changed that day and in October of 2017, Alayna, at 48 years old, was officially diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.

Multiple Myeloma is a blood plasma cancer which attacks bone Marrow, bones and eventually organs. It only has 3 stages whereas most cancers have 4. It is treatable, but not curable so it makes Alayna terminal.

www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/multiple-myeloma/symptoms-causes/syc-20353378

www.cancer.org/cancer/multiple-myeloma/about/what-is-multiple-myeloma.html

She is sad and scared.

See, the average person that gets this disease is at least 60-65 years old, it affects mostly African AmericanS and males. Alayna is a rare case and as we all know, cancer doesn’t care who it attacks. In April of 2018, Alayna had a bone marrow transplant, which we are so thankful for those that do get tested to be a bone marrow match. It has extended Alayna’s life and she is still recovering and it will take up to a year for her to heal fully.

So as of now Alayna still gets sick and fights through it and tries to walk and get out of her home. The transplant bought her some time, but none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow especially with a rare case of nasty cancer growing inside a body. Alayna and her friends and family pray and pray that she will be able to say that she is a survivor. Multiple Myeloma is one of the most under studied cancers and barely researched in the last 10 years. We are also so thankful for the International Myeloma Foundation. They are pushing the United States to research this cancer to develop a better treatment and hopefully one day a cure.

We are looking to financially support Alayna during this exhausting and emotionally draining time in her life. The donations will go to supporting her everyday life, keeping food on the table, a roof over her head and treatments to kill the cancer that is ridding her body. We want to tell the world that she is a survivor one day.
 
Multiple myeloma - Symptoms and causes
Learn about this cancer that forms from white blood cells called plasma cells. Multiple myeloma treatments include medications and bone marrow transplant.
mayoclinic.org