Help Walela Through Chemotherapy

UPDATE: Thank you for your support snce 2018. Last year, it was discovered that my oral chemo is ineffective and I'm going to need to undergo a bone marrow transplant. Through this time as I search for a donor and hopefully undergo a transplant ASAP, I am asking for help with: 

1) General Living Expenses
2) Holistic Therapy
4) Transportation 
5) Transplant / Emergency Funds: In the event that I need to go to an ER, or I'm re-admitted to a hospital due to unforeseen circumstances, or I get the transplant - my caregivers will need to take off work to take care of me - they won't be able to work and any support is helpful

TO FIND OUT IF YOU COULD BE MY DONOR: Text ItsWalela to 61474 or join.bethematch.org/itswalela 

MY STORY: 
On Monday, April 10, 2017, I went to see a doctor for persistent severe headaches and dizziness. A blood test revealed that I have Leukemia - specifically phase III (blastic) Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. My white blood cell count had reached 660,000 (normal being 5,000 to 10,000). It is a miracle that I was not killed by this extremely high count - it takes much less to cause a stroke. CML is generally a manageable leukemia but because my cancer went undiagnosed for 2-3 years, it mimics a more acute aggressive leukemia as well as has a mutation. 


In 2017, I was immediately admitted to the oncology unit where my initial treatment included daily leukapheresis to literally pump my blood through a machine that removes white blood cells.  The mid and long-term treatments include chemotherapy (I am currently taking a large dose of Tasigna twice a day which had a 10% chance of working on me) and potentially, in the case of an emergency, a bone marrow transplant. 

As a community organizer, I have focused my attention on helping others.  As a well-known poet, being featured on platforms like VICE i-D, Huffington Post, Instyle Magazine, Bustle, and Afropunk, I have championed the causes of gender equality, feminism, Black liberation /self-determination, and overall societal change. Now I really need yall to help champion my fight against leukemia.

In January 2018, I returned to work again to discover that I was constantly contracting infections (from intestinal to respiratory), I also was becoming rapidly fatigued, having severe intestinal issues, and more. Many of the medications I was put on, conflicted with my chemo, meaning I would have to go off my chemo to heal whatever ailment I had, then go back on - leaving my cancer to move regressively. Leukemia naturally suppresses my immune function pair that with an extremely high dose of oral chemo twice a day, my immune system is very fragile. Additionally, chemo wrecks my body in other ways i.e. every day is a battle against fatigue, digestive ailments, joint & bone pain.