In February we discovered that our sweet Mary-Leigh Armendariz (Hogan) has a rare genetic condition known as Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome, the same as her late brother, Philip Hogan who passed suddenly the day following her high school graduation. Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome can lead to symptoms such as bone marrow failure causing an inability for her body to make blood and a compromised immune system, all of which Mary-Leigh is currently experiencing. Since February, her days have consisted of multiple blood and/or platelet infusions each week, numerous severe infections, countless ER visits and several week long hospital stays. She travels to Lewis Gale hospital in Salem, VA several times each week to see her hematologist/oncologist and makes routine trips to Charlottesville, VA to see specialists at UVA, which is the same hospital that treated her brother Philip in his early childhood.
Throughout this process, it was determined that Mary-Leigh needs a stem cell transplant to survive. A 100% match donor was found and contacted. The donor has accepted, however the transplant has been delayed quite a bit due to Mary-Leigh’s multiple severe infections and other complications she has experienced due to her failing body.
Mary-Leigh’s transplant will be a very expensive, risky and long process which will require chemotherapy in order to remove what remains of her current bone marrow and allow the new marrow to be created afterwards. Following the procedure she will need to remain in UVA’s ICU/Transplant unit for approximately one month to ensure there are no complications while she recuperates. After that she will need to stay in Charlottesville for another 100 days for monitoring and daily doctor appointments, which will require additional lodging costs that will not be covered by insurance.
Due to her illness, she has not been able to go out in public for fear of contracting an illness or infection. Because she tires and loses her breath very easily, Mary-Leigh now spends most of her time outside of hospitals and doctor offices confined to her home with her two dogs, gecko and husband, Jr. In February, she had to take leave from her job as a teaching assistant for special needs autistic children, which has heightened the financial strain resulting from mounting medical bills, expensive prescriptions and co-insurance costs. Her frailness makes her entire world revolve around her disease and prevents her from living a normal life. In order to prevent Mary-Leigh from coming into contact with people (and germs), one of the only things she’s been able to do for fun is play Pokemon Go from within a car while Jr or her niece Savannah drives around town.
To help alleviate some of the long-term monetary worries, and allow Mary-Leigh to focus on the lengthy healing process following her stem-cell transplant, we’ve created this GoFundMe page with a goal of $75,000. Anything you can do to help us reach this goal would be sincerely appreciated by both our family and Mary-Leigh.
Thank you,
Stephanie Hogan, sister
Savannah Biggs, niece
Throughout this process, it was determined that Mary-Leigh needs a stem cell transplant to survive. A 100% match donor was found and contacted. The donor has accepted, however the transplant has been delayed quite a bit due to Mary-Leigh’s multiple severe infections and other complications she has experienced due to her failing body.
Mary-Leigh’s transplant will be a very expensive, risky and long process which will require chemotherapy in order to remove what remains of her current bone marrow and allow the new marrow to be created afterwards. Following the procedure she will need to remain in UVA’s ICU/Transplant unit for approximately one month to ensure there are no complications while she recuperates. After that she will need to stay in Charlottesville for another 100 days for monitoring and daily doctor appointments, which will require additional lodging costs that will not be covered by insurance.
Due to her illness, she has not been able to go out in public for fear of contracting an illness or infection. Because she tires and loses her breath very easily, Mary-Leigh now spends most of her time outside of hospitals and doctor offices confined to her home with her two dogs, gecko and husband, Jr. In February, she had to take leave from her job as a teaching assistant for special needs autistic children, which has heightened the financial strain resulting from mounting medical bills, expensive prescriptions and co-insurance costs. Her frailness makes her entire world revolve around her disease and prevents her from living a normal life. In order to prevent Mary-Leigh from coming into contact with people (and germs), one of the only things she’s been able to do for fun is play Pokemon Go from within a car while Jr or her niece Savannah drives around town.
To help alleviate some of the long-term monetary worries, and allow Mary-Leigh to focus on the lengthy healing process following her stem-cell transplant, we’ve created this GoFundMe page with a goal of $75,000. Anything you can do to help us reach this goal would be sincerely appreciated by both our family and Mary-Leigh.
Thank you,
Stephanie Hogan, sister
Savannah Biggs, niece
Organizer and beneficiary
Luis Armendariz
Beneficiary