Let's help the Supupramai family

If you know Peach Supupramai, you may have heard of her famous homemade authentic Thai lunches that she shares with her classmates everyday. She comes from a family that expresses hospitality and love through food. Her parents raised her and her brothers with unending love and it undeniably shows in Peach's bubbly personality. Anybody that meets Peach can agree that her cheerfulness is contagious. She has the biggest heart and will drop whatever she is doing to help a friend. And now it's our turn to help her family.

Peach is a second year medical student at Nova Southeastern University. A month and a half ago, we were learning about different hematological (blood related) diseases in our Hematology/Lymphatics class. On a hot Florida Wednesday, we learned about Multiple Myeloma (MM) in class. Two nights later, Peach came home to her parents sitting at the dinner table. As she walked in, her mom asked,

“Peach, what’s an oncologist?”

Her dad was referred to an oncologist to rule out cancer. Unfortunately, after two weeks of numerous tests and labs, he was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (MM). 

Multiple Myeloma is a cancer of blood cells (plasma B cell, to be specific) that leaves your body prone to diseases. The key damage it does to the patient's body is weakening of the bone, affecting the rest of the body systematically. In the US, MM only makes up 1% of all new cancer cases each year. Unfortunately, there is no cure for the disease today. The progression can only be slowed with life-long treatments.

We decided to start this page to raise money that will go towards helping her family afford the treatment that her dad needs. It has been hard to watch our normally bubbly friend hold her tears back. Being a medical student alone, it easily consumes each of us mentally and emotionally everyday. It is more than being a student; it is about dedicating our youth, passion, sleep because we love people. Moreover, it is circumstances like these that remind us that life outside of school goes on whether we have time for it or not. At the end of the day, family comes first.

This is the least we could do as Peach’s friends to help bring a smile back into Peach and the Supupramai family. So please join us in giving back the love that this family has offered us and many others around them. Let's celebrate the life of those we love and those around us while we have the precious opportunity of having them with us. #loveforPapaSup

More information about MM can be found here:
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/multiplemyeloma/detailedguide/multiple-myeloma-what-is-multiple-myeloma

Love,

The Emoji Girls