Sam's GiveAndGarden fundraiser runs until the 26th! Head there now to get some gorgeous plants and help us pay for Sam's continuing treatment! store.giveandgarden.com/pages/fundra...

#MutualAid #helpsky #leukemia #fundraiser

If you're a gardener or know someone who is, consider checking out or sharing this fundraiser started by our friend Kris! Beautiful flowers, fruits and veggies, and 50% of sales go towards Sam and her treatments. store.giveandgarden.com/pages/fundra...

#Fundraiser #MutualAid #Gardening

Sam is home following a week's stay in the hospital for monitored treatment. She's doing well; resting up for the next round. We're still here trying to get through each day. If you'd like to help us, there's a list of donation links 👇. Thank you all so much.

#MutualAid #MutualAidRequest #helpsky

Big good news!! Sam is in remission!! Her cancer cells are undetectable enough that she can move into the maintenance phase; basically gentler, less frequent chemo to keep it suppressed.

As an additional way to help as we head into the next stage of Sam's treatment, I've made a small grocery list on Amazon, if people would like to check that out. www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...

#MutualAid #Leukemia #MutualAidRequest #Helpsky

Long time no update! Largely because many things have happened very quickly and any update I drafted became inaccurate as soon as I finished it. Let's see if we can get into it before something else changes.

Sam's home! 🥳

Sam's coming home on January 10th! We're getting the house ready for her, since even with the progress she's made she's not at 100% yet & will be using a walker. The focus is on finishing her physical therapy and chemo to ensure she's at full strength & completely cancer-free.

The preliminary tests for Sam's spinal fluid and bone marrow show NO leukemia cells! She's officially in a physical rehab facility for the purpose of regaining her strength after being in a medically induced coma for a week.

Sam's off the ventilator! She's awake and able to talk - David's visiting with her now. She's still in the ICU for now but will hopefully be back up in a regular room by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Updates on Sam's ICU stay: turns out the infection is in fact e. coli. No word on the cause - could be anything from contaminated food to a UTI that evolved when her immune system couldn't fight it off. It's shocking news to get, but now that they've named the beast they can fight it properly.

After a very good week last week, including her platelets coming up to where she could receive her first round of intrathecal chemo, Sam's been moved to the ICU with a fever. The current theory is a bacterial infection.

Sam's starting chemo today after all even though her platelet count is still low; they don't want to delay it any more than they have to because of how hard & fast acute leukemia hits. This means she may end up getting more than the average of 50 units of platelets a chemo patient usually receives.

Sam's chemo has been delayed because her platelets are simply staying too low to tolerate the treatment. She is able to do some light PT - mainly walking and some arm exercises - but physical activity helps.

On Nov. 19th, 2023, Sam was rushed to the ER with severe pain and shortness of breath. She was initially diagnosed with lymphoma, and after two days of no improvement was transferred to Northside Hospital, where the diagnosis was changed to T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.