Help Meliah With Medical Bills
Donation protected
Hello friends. Last week was a rough week, if I’m being honest. I had some adverse reactions to some of the prep meds I was given in order to boost the amount of stem cells that my body produces, so that we could harvest as many as possible earlier this week. It was a pretty unpleasant weekend but I’ve been home and feeling better since Wednesday.
Tonight will be my last update for a few weeks, as I go into the hospital for the actual stem cell transplant next week.
I go in on Monday for my first round of high dose chemo, then again on Tuesday. On Tuesday, they will admit me for 2-3 weeks. Wednesday I will actually have the stem cell transplant done and get the stem cells back that they harvested earlier this week. A few days later I’m very likely to begin experiencing some pretty gnarly chemo side effects. Nausea, vomiting, body aches and pains and more. I will lose my hair.
And yet, I am strangely optimistic, at least at the moment (check back with me tomorrow night!). I continue to be surrounded by an unparalleled support system and when I tell you that it makes a real and concrete daily difference, I hope you understand how literal I mean it.
One of the most sobering angles of my diagnosis is that, no matter how well this treatment goes, I will get sick again. This is just the nature of my illness. My myeloma will return. We’ll never know when, or how often, or how intense. I’ll spend the rest of my life praying for the progress of multiple myeloma research, in the hope that a cure can be found before my illness returns enough times that it develops a resiliency to the treatments currently available to the medical community.
Because of this, I am opening a Go Fund Me opportunity for those of you who feel compelled to support me in this way. I’ll have a separate medical expenses account that these funds will go through and they’ll be used for my medical needs either now or into the future.
Of course, please know that any amount, no matter how big or small, will be received with the deepest of gratitude. And, of course, for my friends for whom it matters (you know who you are) please adhere to the $49 limitation we are restricted by. I know that, for many of you, that limitation is sorely in contradiction to the amount of love and support you want to show. Please know that I know that. But I also know that I also have many friends who will not be restricted by these limitations and I want everyone to be able to show up in as many ways as they might want to as a show of support right now.
We love you all and are deeply grateful for every act of kindness sent our way.
Tonight will be my last update for a few weeks, as I go into the hospital for the actual stem cell transplant next week.
I go in on Monday for my first round of high dose chemo, then again on Tuesday. On Tuesday, they will admit me for 2-3 weeks. Wednesday I will actually have the stem cell transplant done and get the stem cells back that they harvested earlier this week. A few days later I’m very likely to begin experiencing some pretty gnarly chemo side effects. Nausea, vomiting, body aches and pains and more. I will lose my hair.
And yet, I am strangely optimistic, at least at the moment (check back with me tomorrow night!). I continue to be surrounded by an unparalleled support system and when I tell you that it makes a real and concrete daily difference, I hope you understand how literal I mean it.
One of the most sobering angles of my diagnosis is that, no matter how well this treatment goes, I will get sick again. This is just the nature of my illness. My myeloma will return. We’ll never know when, or how often, or how intense. I’ll spend the rest of my life praying for the progress of multiple myeloma research, in the hope that a cure can be found before my illness returns enough times that it develops a resiliency to the treatments currently available to the medical community.
Because of this, I am opening a Go Fund Me opportunity for those of you who feel compelled to support me in this way. I’ll have a separate medical expenses account that these funds will go through and they’ll be used for my medical needs either now or into the future.
Of course, please know that any amount, no matter how big or small, will be received with the deepest of gratitude. And, of course, for my friends for whom it matters (you know who you are) please adhere to the $49 limitation we are restricted by. I know that, for many of you, that limitation is sorely in contradiction to the amount of love and support you want to show. Please know that I know that. But I also know that I also have many friends who will not be restricted by these limitations and I want everyone to be able to show up in as many ways as they might want to as a show of support right now.
We love you all and are deeply grateful for every act of kindness sent our way.
Organizer
Dan Balm
Organizer
Salem, OR