Help Larissa Heal Multiple Myeloma: Car T

Those who know Larissa know that she has recently experienced two major relapses of her Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in bone. She is scheduled to have a major treatment known as Car T-Cell therapy at the end of June/beginning of July. While the treatment will have her hospitalized for weeks, it has the best chance of keeping her cancer-free for a long time. But she needs help for what will, in the end, be several months of recovery and little to no income.

At the beginning of June 2023, Larissa’s oncologists ordered her to the emergency room, and she has since been hospitalized at Mount Sinai in NYC and had four days of emergency chemotherapy in hopes of slowing the spread of the cancer. This relapse first started coming on in April 2023, when lesions were experienced on her sternum, ribs and the femur bone of her leg.

If you read up on Multiple Myeloma, it sounds almost promising as it is a survivable cancer in many circumstances, but in its wake it can leave a lot of pain and debility from the breakdown and fracturing of bones ravaged by this disease. At this moment, Larissa is dealing with just that—a lot of pain and debility as the affected ribs are making it hard for her to breathe along with the large mass protruding on her sternum and the very real need to be cautious with walking, as the risk for fracture is substantially higher in affected bones.

Many of the loving community of family, friends and colleagues supported Larissa’s Stem Cell Transplant in 2019. While remission was hoped to last at least five years, Larissa only achieved true remission for 2 years after that treatment. We were hopeful after she quickly found remission again after a change of treatment, but then the second relapse came a year later in January 2022. Then a third and more aggressive relapse occurred in July 2022 that included radiation in all of Fall 2022. This relapse was particularly hard as lesions started in her right arm then spread to both arms and her scapula with the cancer encompassing all of her upper right humerus, making that right arm non-functioning for months.

(Caption: Larissa looking stylish for radiation therapy on Halloween Day 2022)

On top of radiation and infusions, she went through grueling therapy sessions to try and gain some function of her right arm back. While her function is still very limited, the damage the cancer has done is permanent without further surgery as an option in the future.

(Caption: LVJ celebrates movement of their left arm after a Zoom workout with students.)

After various chemo cocktails and a brief time in remission in the winter of 2023, we found out the cancer is back again. Between the last two relapses, the cancer has become much more aggressive and wide-spreading.

Larissa is now having chemotherapy to get her Myeloma low enough for the Car T-Cell therapy, which only becomes available for patients after 4 failed attempts at other treatments. Car T-Cell Therapy is newly approved by the FDA and is the future of treatment for many cancers. It involves genetically engineering one’s own T-cells in a lab, then reintroducing them to the body so that the patient can fight the disease on their own without chemo and regular treatment.

While all of this sounds so daunting, Larissa has still thrived impeccably. She taught at Princeton University in Fall 2021 as part of the Caroline Hearst Fellowship; was an adjunct professor at The New School c/o Movement Research in Spring 2022; taught at Bennington College in Fall of 2022; and most recently received a Fellowship from AXIS Dance Company’s Choreo-Lab 2023, where she was supposed to travel to California the last week of May but unfortunately needed hospitalization instead. This doesn’t even include her private Pilates and yoga clients, Smart Body Fitness clients and other dance residencies and commissions.

(Caption: LVJ Performance Co members left to right: Larissa Velez-Jackson, Mary Read and Angie Pittman perform the Star Pû Method at The Chocolate Factory Theater in LIC, NYC, June 2022)

Larissa has juggled going to the hospital for infusions and radiation while working, making art and even still showing up as a loving Auntie to her nephew and niece Cielo and Luna, as well as being a loving wife, daughter, sister and friend. As she has continued to show up in the lives of others‚ mask on and distanced—to preserve her life—our greatest hope is that her community can show up for her.

Larissa continues to live life as only she knows how as a teacher and an artist. When the ground seems unsteady and difficult to manage, she slows down, sinks her feet in and shares her vulnerability and artistic process for the world to see. As someone who has made their whole life movement, it is difficult for all who love her to see her have this journey. So as Car T approaches this summer—which also means harsh rounds of chemo, losing her immune system again and needing to be quarantined—also comes the glimmer of hope that this can mean real remission and a better quality of life.

I am asking for us, as her community, to show up for her in whatever way feels right to you. This could be in the form of sending positive vibes, prayer, sending meals, giving therapeutic sessions, mentorship, well wishes and/or financial support. These next months mean Larissa will not be able to work at all, and Jon will miss out on weeks of work to be her caregiver with part of her journey including a hospital stay and weeks close to the hospital to complete her infusion therapy.

We will continue to provide updates on her Car T journey and look forward to a time of real remission. Thank you for taking the time to read and support Larissa.

Love,

Stephanie (sister) and Hilary (best friend)