Medical Relief

Hello, my name is Alissa and I am setting up a fundraiser for the most selfless family I know... The Heiden-Gunderson family. Lisa and Ryan are the type to jump in to help others, not to ask for help themselves. However; the reality is they are going to need help. Hailey's current diagnosis, like Lisa likes to say, "is going to be a marathon, not a sprint." When the doctors told them the last time was a walk in the park compared to this time around reality hit even harder. Doctors are not sure how long it will take to get Hailey's cancer numbers to zero or how long this transplant will take. What they do know is that Lisa will not be working this year. She is Hailey's constant; her safe place and will be with her every step of the way. This will leave their family with only one income. Not only will they experience medical expenses, travel costs, and time in the hospital, they will need to combat mental health as well to keep Hailey busy. They also have 3 boys at home to care for and provide as much of a sense of normalcy as possible. This truly is a marathon for their family, not a sprint. The family's second marathon in only 3 years. Our financial support will help alleviate some of the financial stress for the family in the coming year. Additionally, prayers are greatly appreciated as we have a God who can move mountains!

Here is a little of their story...

July 18th we heard the words no parent wants to hear. Hailey has cancer. Leukemia-AML. It just gets more complicated due to what we have always known, which is that Hailey is one in a million.

Due to Hailey's genetic telomere condition, they have to be less aggressive on chemotherapy to not harm her other organs. Which makes this a "Goldilocks" approach as the doctor referred to it. Enough to kill the cancer and prevent it from spreading too quickly, but not so much that there is damage to her other organs.

She just did her first round of chemo at Children's for 7 days. She starts her 28 days of chemo pills tomorrow. After she finishes the chemo pills at home they will do a repeat bone marrow biopsy to see if the chemo is working. If it is working they will repeat this cycle. If it is not shrinking the number of cancer cells then they will come up with a new plan and get more aggressive with her treatment. The goal is to get the number of cancer cells to 0. When the number gets to 0 they will transfer her to U of MN Masonic to do ANOTHER bone marrow transplant.

Hailey is scared and doesn't understand why this is happening again. She just wants to be a kid. She wants to dance. She wants to go to 5th grade. There is no timeline for a transplant. There isn't a hard and fast answer for that. It will depend on how quickly the chemo kills the cancer cells. But what we do know is that she is strong, smart, resilient, and has great faith in God and her medical team. Her medical team at Children's is already in contact with Masonic's transplant team from before and both places have reached out to doctors nationally and internationally. We feel blessed to have an incredible care team.

For her full story check out her Caring Bridge site:

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/haileyheiden