Support Luke Rohde for Bone Marrow Transplant

Hello, my name is Lynnette Bechard and I am again this year helping support my friends, the Rohde family, who are now facing a serious health challenge with their dearest son, Luke. He was diagnosed last year with anaplastic large-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and went through six cycles of chemotherapy, which ended in September 2022. He made a remarkable recovery and enjoyed an amazing ski season and sophomore year of high school.

Soon after school was out for summer, in June 2023, some symptoms appeared and he went through a surgical biopsy on June 14th, which confirmed the relapse of ALCL. He quickly became very ill, so they are immensely grateful that he’s responded so well to the medicine and has enjoyed a relatively “normal” summer of skateboarding, rafting, kayaking, camping and hanging out with his friends. The protocol for a relapse is to receive a bone marrow transplant. At this time, he remains under the amazing care of the Rocky Mountain Pediatric Hematology Oncology team. Luke is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment with cycles every 21 days to prepare for a bone marrow transplant. When he is in remission, he can then begin the transplant process.

For the transplant, Luke will be under the care of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In early October, he will be admitted to prepare and receive the BMT. He will be in the hospital for at least 30 days, possibly longer. And once he can go home, the first 100 days will be challenging in his recovery care needs, especially maintaining a clean, safe living environment and lessening exposure for him. Luke has a fantastic unrelated donor match! We have faith in this cure for Luke!

Finally, thank all of you who gave to the fundraiser last year. Thanks to your generosity, Luke was able to be under the care of an integrative naturopathic oncologist who did extensive testing and aided in supplementation and nutrition for him. Additionally, Luke completed 40 hours of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) during his recovery last Fall. So, again as before, they will utilize these gifts to aid them in Luke’s care and for further integrative therapies that are not covered by insurance. Lyndi has been unable to work the past 18 months to manage Luke’s medical appointments and his care requirements. This is just increasing as she will be with Luke at the hospital during his stay and his full-time caregiver post-transplant.

The Rohde’s are a wonderful family that are generous with supporting their community, family and friends in times of joy and pain and now is our chance to hold up their arms and support them. Our goal is to lighten their financial burden by raising enough funds to cover Luke’s medical expenses, daily care and comfort needs as well as further proven therapies that are out of pocket. Luke will have several integrative therapies for post-transplant recovery to help him heal from the effects of chemotherapy, radiation, medications and heavy metals.