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About:
Crystal is a single mother of 3 boys (one an 8th grader and two college students) and receives no child-support. She was diagnosed with Stage 4 Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma in June, 2015. Her is her story:

April:

Crystal had a work-related back injury and fell under workman's comp. Treatment for the back injury was physical therapy and pain medication. She requested several times to have imaging done on her back because the pain was getting worse but they refused until almost 2 & 1/2 months went by and they finally ordered an MRI.

June:
An MRI was done on June 25th. On the 28th she was having severe back pain and went to the emergency room, at this point the MRI wasn't read yet, in which the emergency room doctor ordered a stat read on the MRI. We were thinking it would be a bulging disk, but to our surprise they found Stage 4 Metastatic Cancer and fractures in her spine. She worked until she was diagnosed with cancer and then she went on short-term disability. She was admitted to the cancer unit at Spectrum Health - Butterworth Hospital were they began running tests to identify the cancer.

July:
Butterworth was unable to find a cause of the Metastatic Cancer, so she went for a 2nd opinion at University of Michigan Hospital. U of M ordered all test results to be sent from Butterworth Hospital, and within a few hours they had a proper cancer diagnosis of Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma
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Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma:
DLBCL is an aggressive tumor which can arise in virtually any part of the body and the first sign of this illness is typically the observation of a rapidly growing mass.
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July through December:
Lymphoma was found in several spots along her spine, shoulders, legs, and in her bones. She started chemotherapy in July and was scheduled to have chemotherapy every 3 weeks. The first set of six chemotherapies was very hard for her, After every chemotherapy treatment she would have to go back to the hospital because she became neutropenic (low to no white blood cell count, low hemoglobin, and high fever) and would have to have blood transfusions.  She lost a lot of weigh and strength. In August, she had to have a feeding tube put in after not being able eat anything for 21 days. 

December:
Her short-term disability ended in December and now she's awaiting to go on long-term disability (in the meantime she is not receiving any funds). Long-term disability will not give her as much funds as before. Which is why she is now asking for help. She's asking for help to pay her monthly bills, food, and medical expenses. She hasn't been able to work since June 28th, 2015. Now that her short term disability has ended and she's not able to work, she has to start paying her COBRA Insurance.

Progress:
She's finished her first 6 treatments of Chemotherapy, had a PET scan at the end of December and is awaiting results end of January to see if she still has active cancer. If she does, she will have to undergo further aggressive treatment. We'll keep you posted.



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  • Anonymous
    • $20
    • 9 yrs
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Organizer

Crystal J. Herrera
Organizer
Grand Rapids, MI

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