James' Leukemia Fundraiser

James' world came to a complete stop on September 16th, when he would go to work, but had horrible pain.  By late morning he was admitted into the hospital for an elevated white blood cell account that showed that he had a blood disorder.  Along with this blood disorder, he had an intestinal infection.  By the 6th day, he would be diagnosed by bone marrow biopsy with CMML Leukemia.  By the 7th day he was so sick he would be put on full life support for four days.  We were told he more than likely would not make it.  The odds were not with him.  Even during a COVID19 pandemic, his doctors would arrange for his children to visit him in case he passed away on life support.     The day the kids came to see him in an induced coma and on full life support, I told them to please cheer on their dad.  Let him know he can do this, that he is loved and he can survive this!  I told them if they were to become hysterical or need to cry to please do it in the waiting room where I could hold them.  I did not want to risk that James might be able to hear that he wouldn't make it.  We all knew he could die, but I felt it necessary that James only heard encouragement.  He would remain on life support from September 22 to the 25th.   The weaning process of breathing on his own was brutal, but he does it!   By September 25th he was moved to the Oncology ward.  His personality was gone.  I almost worried that he had brain injury.  It was shocking how flat his emotions were and his memory was absolutely affected.   By the 28th his personality starts to emerge again!  What a relief it was to see his smile again, to hear his silly jokes, and to know his brain was not horribly affected.   By the 29th, we would find out that his job as Shop Foreman would NOT pay him.  Worse, they dropped the medical insurance for all of us without even offering to pay any of it for us.  The COBRA for all of us is over 3000.00 for one month.  A ridiculously high amount.  We were only able to pay for James.  This means the rest of us are not insured right now.  Which is not good due to the medical needs of me, in particular.   Needless to say without an income we are in a bad predicament.  Most don't realize this but I can't work full-time due to my disability. The process for SS, SSI, Medicaid, Medicare, Food, and utility assistance is in the making.   We are currently waiting for the government to rescue our special needs family as well as reaching out to many Cancer organizations for help.  As to be imagined we are all in shock and walking the stages of grief.  Our life as we know it has ended. Once James stabilizes he will be put on a bone marrow transplant list.   He is not out of the woods yet.   Without a bone marrow transplant, he has been given three to six months to live.  So it is a critical scary time, filled with weekly blood transfusions, chemotherapy, and in-home therapy.   His doctor said that once stabilized a bone marrow transplant would give him a "cure" and he could live much longer.  We will be going to Emory for a second opinion soon.  We hit catastrophic with the United HealthCare Insurance, however, we are not without any income with my disability and now his.   All the money will go to James' Family, Medical Expenses, Medical Insurance, Mortgage, Utilities, Food, and Gas.  Every little bit adds up, so please help us out in any way you can.   We appreciate your love, support, and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

If you prefer you can donate to Venmo: Anunnaki-Marquez