Update (03.10.2024): Reese has been in remission since December of 2024. Since then, she has started her two year maintenance phase of chemotherapy. This phase is the third phase of most cancer treatments and is designed to keep Reese from relapsing. Reese maintains her regiment with a pill and regular check ups with her medical providers. Leukemia don’t got nothing Reese Update (08.31): Reese was released from the hospital last week, almost two weeks early! After steadily improving numbers and another bone marrow biopsy, her doctors decided that the rest of her treatment could be done outpatient :) UPDATE: Reese opted to shave her head this week after some extensive hair loss- she kills the look ;) UPDATE: Reese has now been undergoing chemotherapy, every other day, for a couple of weeks. She has also begun arsenic trioxide therapy in conjunction with the chemo. Arsenic works by speeding up the death of leukemic cells and encouraging normal blood cells to develop properly. She is doing this treatment daily for a 28-day cycle. Mouth sores have been one of her biggest side effects- making it difficult to eat and speak. She is also finding herself quite sore. More updates to come... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5402621/ On July 15th, one of my closest friends presented to the urgent care in her hometown with a sore throat, an ear infection and a gum infection. She was given antibiotics and sent on her way. On July 22nd, she returned, this time to the emergency room, with dizziness, light-headedness and jaundice. Under the impression she would be diagnosed with Diabetes, on July 24th she was tentatively diagnosed with Leukemia. On July 26th, after being transferred to an oncology unit at a hospital in Sacramento, a bone marrow biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL). APL causes the overproduction of immature white blood cells that do not mature or apoptosis. This results in lower production amounts of the other blood cells necessary for normal bodily function. Moving forward, Reese is looking at a six-week stay in the Oncology unit at Sutter Medical Center Sacramento, as she receives chemo and they monitor her condition. After these six weeks, Reese can look forward to driving to Sacramento from her hometown of Lodi (45+ minutes excluding Sacramento traffic) to receive treatment 2-3 times a week, for at least the next year. As you can imagine, she and her family are coping with this news and will take a hit financially as they take in medical bills, commuting costs and taking time off to be with their daughter, sister and loved one. Please consider donating to make a hard time for this family slightly easier, and keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.
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