Please help Patchogue Mother Lisa fighting Cancer

Hello I’m starting this fundraiser for Lisa and her children. Anyone that knows Lisa personally knows the hell she has been through since her heart transplant in 1999. When Lisa's daughter was born Lisa lost a lot of blood and became anemic, her body was weak and unfortunately she caught the Coxsackie virus ( a common virus for children) which sat in her left ventricle and damaged her heart. In 1999 Lisa received a heart transplant, this was just the beginning of her battles.

After a transplant your immune system must be kept low so that your body does not reject the organ. You are put on a drug called Tacrolomus which you have to take morning and night for the rest of your life.

Being immunocompromised suppresses the immune system which leaves you more prone to rejection of the heart. Studies show that Organ transplant recipients have a high risk of developing 32 different types of cancer.

February 2013 Lisa was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. She went through two rounds of chemo and 37 radiation treatments to her pelvic area, front and back causing severe burns.

In 2016 Lisa was diagnosed with large B cell non Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the small intestine, and went through six rounds of chemotherapy. Never complaining, always a fighter.

October of 2020 Lisa had a GI Bleed and was in Stony Brook hospital, she went septic, 104 fever for four days and rapid response was called in to get her heart rate down, it was a very very scary moment.

May of 2021 at a routine follow up Lisa’s doctor did blood work and her white count, hemoglobin and platelets were all going downhill so he sent her for a bone narrow biopsy. Lisa was now positive with MDS Myelodysplasia.

MDS is a group of disorders caused when something disrupts the production of blood cells, some types have no known cause others occur in response to cancer treatment or chemical exposures in the past which was Lisa's case.

Treatment for this depends on the stage, her stage was 4.5 and the highest is 20 which is acute myeloid leukemia. Lisa went through chemo for 5 months to try and bring down the blast number and prepare for the allogeneic stem cell transplant, her only hope at survival. One doctor in Manhattan would not preform the transplant giving her only a 20% chance of survival, but she found another doctor willing to try and gave her a 60% chance of survival.

Miraculously Lisa's son Joe was able to be her donor!!! Lisa went into the hospital on 11/11 and will be in there for one month. She received the transplant on Wednesday 11/17 another birthday for her. She was so weak up until the day she went in and was still driving herself around and to work. I had to pick her up one day because she was so weak SCPD would not let her drive. She drove herself to chemo treatments, Lisa really is the strongest woman!!!

Lisa never asks for help but she will be in the hospital for a month, she is very weak and will not be able to work or be near people for a total of 3 months. Yesterday she was fighting a fever which is common after a stem cell transplant and had a rough night. Today she did sound a lot better, and received more chemo today.

Lisa has 4 children, her daughter Nikki left her job to stay with her 15 year old twins Lexi and Sam. We are starting this fundraiser to help Lisa with living expenses for her and the girls during this difficult time, any donation you can make will be greatly appreciated!