Help me get to Moffitt Cancer Center

Hi I’m Jennifer Douglas and I’m a Type 2 diabetic and I am very prone to getting osteomyelitis (infection of the bone). In my case it loves my toes. Well on Christmas Eve I checked my feet as I always do and noticed my middle toe was rather black. I went to the hospital to have it checked out and of course it was osteomyelitis and the toe would have to be removed. However, they drew blood as they always do at the hospital and discovered that my white blood cell count was 220,000+ (Normal is 4,000-10,000+/-). They told me I had blood cancer aka leukemia and that they couldn’t help me at that hospital because their podiatrist and oncologist were both on vacation because it was Christmas. That being the case they sent me to another hospital by ambulance. When I got there they drew more blood just to be sure and my WBC count was at 236,000 and the oncologist told me I had to be transferred to yet another hospital because he couldn’t deal with this type of cancer but if I didn’t get it taken care of I’d be dead in 2 weeks. I said ok and took another ambulance ride this time to Tampa General where I finally received excellent care (although they drew so much blood my veins were drying up). The black toe was removed and taken care of by the podiatry team (amazing doctors) . The internal medicine team realized I had pneumonia on top of the diabetes and addressed those issues the entire month I was there. However it was the oncologist and her team that saved my life. They did a bone marrow biopsy and figured out I have B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL) which is a type of blood cancer that usually effects children and young adults neither of which I am and is rare in adults my age. They started me on the induction phase of the type of chemotherapy recommended for B-ALL which I responded well to and then TGH transferred me to Moffitt Cancer Center for further treatment. This is where you my friends, family and acquaintances come in. My treatment requires 28 days straight of chemotherapy where I will have to drive from Inverness to Tampa every other day for bag changes. I will then have 2 weeks off and then the process repeats for 5-7 months. I will not be able to work during this time and to be honest I’m not sure how much of my critical illness insurance is going to pay (max is 5k.). There are grants and programs I’m working on but they only provide lodging for me not for my sister Yvonne who will be driving me back and forth from Moffitt.

Its roughly one and A quarter hours to get there but more it takes a little over half a tank per round trip That adds up to $36/fill up at $3.45/gallon which  adds up to $120/week x 7 months max = $3,360.00. Lodging wouldn’t be as much because it would only be once or twice a month at rates between $65-$125/night which equals about $1400. The only regular bill that Yvonne(My sister) and I won‘t be able to cover is my car payment of $550/month which equals $3,850. (Its not a fancy I just have bad credit.) All totaled its $8,610 but I rounded up to 10k to help cover incidentals.

This treatment is vital to my survival. Yvonne and I need your help in making it happen.

Sincerely and with all my thanks,

Jennifer Hawk-Douglas