I got an email the other day from a former Trinity classmate, Stephanie (Greer) Stradley, whose sister Deb runs a cute blog here in Houston called Debutant. Deb has unfortunately run into some bad times.
On October 21, 2005, I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia that is Philadelphia Chromosome positive. After that date, I was told that my daughter couldn’t live with me any more because of the risk of infection, and that I would have to get admitted to the hospital a lot to get chemo and go to the hospital a lot for outpatient services. She is now living with my Sis #2 and her family.
On Sunday, February 19th, I was admitted to the hospital for a stem cell transplant. It is a serious scary procedure but it is the best treatment for my form of the disease and hopefully will be a complete cure.
A little less than 4000 people in the United States get ALL each year. Most of those people are children. No one knows what causes ALL.
Deb could use a helping hand, be it in the form of financial assistance, blood or platelet donations, or just good thoughts and prayers. I’m told that the stem cell transplant takes place this Monday (tomorrow), so please keep that in mind. Deb’s got a beautiful little daughter and she’s a fan of the movie Airplane!, and that’s a pretty good combination in my book. Take a moment to visit her site and let her know you’re rooting for her.
Chuck, today’s Deb’s birthday so it would be great if folks could wander over and wish her well.