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Christopher Phillips Leukemia Fund

Hi Nigel, the Methotrexate I recognize quite well.  I sure wish I could donate stem cells and bone marrow to him, I would gladly go through it again like I did for my sister. Chemo can sure mess you up, the least little thing can cause a lot of problems and its very hard to get over it.
Is he close to where he lives where his family can come and visit without having to travel to far? That was one of my problems, the hospital was a long way from home and most of my family could not afford the trip there, so I spent a lot of time alone, but when you are on treatments you don't want to many people visiting.
 
Chris is quite close to his family while in Hospital, so they can visit him.
 
Hopefully he will be going home from Hospital today. He`s had a systemic MRSA infection, very low blood cell counts, infected Hickman catheter and his Picc line fell out after 24 hours (alternative to the Hickman). In addition to that, the antibiotic used to treat MRSA (vancomycin) has caused temporary damage to his kidneys. These are only the "highlights" of the last 2 weeks and he has had a lot to deal with.
 
Wow, that was interesting. Can someone tell me how to delete all those duplicates, please?
 
Chris is quite close to his family while in Hospital, so they can visit him.
 
Hopefully he will be going home from Hospital today. He`s had a systemic MRSA infection, very low blood cell counts, infected Hickman catheter and his Picc line fell out after 24 hours (alternative to the Hickman). In addition to that, the antibiotic used to treat MRSA (vancomycin) has caused temporary damage to his kidneys. This is only the highlights of the last 2 weeks and he
 
Chris is quite close to his family while in Hospital, so they can visit him.
 
Hopefully he will be going home from Hospital today. He`s had a systemic MRSA infection, very low blood cell counts, infected Hickman catheter and his Picc line fell out after 24 hours (alternative to the Hickman). In addition to that, the antibiotic used to treat MRSA (vancomycin) has caused temporary damage to his kidneys. This is only the highlights of the last 2 weeks and he
 
Chris is quite close to his family while in Hospital, so they can visit him.
 
Hopefully he will be going home from Hospital today. He`s had a systemic MRSA infection, very low blood cell counts, infected Hickman catheter and his Picc line fell out after 24 hours (alternative to the Hickman). In addition to that, the antibiotic used to treat MRSA (vancomycin) has caused temporary damage to his kidneys. This is only the highlights of the last 2 weeks and he
 
Thanks Nigel, Boy it sure sounds like Chris is having a hard time, I can only hope and pray that He will have a easy recovery when they are all done with him.
 
I hope this doesn't do the multiple post on me.
 
I wanted to take a minute and thank everyone on this forum for the amazing support over the last couple of months.  I apologize I have not been able to jump on the forums as much as I wish.  As Nigel has mentioned, things have been quite rough for me.  I basically spent almost all of December in the hospital. :(  I am very thankful was able to go home a couple days ago and really hope I can stay home until the next round of chemo in early January.  
 
I literally have spent every minute of every day in some way or another addressing medical stuff.  There just is not time for anything else when required to do IV antibiotics daily, follow-up with specialists, etc.  The chemo treatments, especially Round 2, were very tough.  I am just keeping my fingers crossed all this suffering and struggling results in a positive outcome long-term.   Going through all this makes you realize how much of a mental battle this disease (and any other cancer) truly is.  I 'thought' i knew what I was in for, but honestly until going through it, I didn't. 
 
I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Again, you don't know how much all the fundraising support, prayers and other help means to my family and me.  It is truly appreciated.  I will continue to update as I can.  Thanks Nigel for your updates too.   
 
Chris
 
Hey Chris glad you got a moment to post, enjoy your holiday and wishing the best for you.
 
Merry Christmas Chris, I hope that you have a speedy recovery, keep up your hopes and Keep fighting.
I'm glad you were able to update us about your treatments.
Best wishes for the Holidays.
 
George
 
Prayers are with you and your family, Chris.  Stay positive and get well.
 
Chris saw the Bone Marrow Transplant people this week and they impressed on him the need to find a donor and go forward with a Stem Cell Transplant (SCT). This is a very big step, a very difficult procedure to endure and has a 50-50 chance of working. Hopefully, a donor can be found soon. For anyone thinking about donating bone marrow, in general, not just for Chris, look at this web site.
 
https://bethematch.org/Support-the-Cause/Donate-bone-marrow/
 
He also had a bone marrow biopsy done to determine if he is in remission or not. Remission is the name given to the phase where cancer is undetectable, but not necessarily gone. It`s all about detection and how sensitive the test is.
These things are fast growing, so if the test can only see over 100 cells, if you have 50 they will grow and multiply and once it`s over 100 cells you have it back, as it were. More chemotherapy at this stage is aimed at keeping the number of cancer cells under the detection limit. Because of this Chris will be starting more chemotherapy towards the end of next week, so back to hospital. Again. 
 
Spoke with Chris and he's going for round 3 of chemo shortly. ...just because you've donated doesn't mean you can't do again..:) I continue to Mae products for nm coworkers and sell to them. .also in donate straight to his PayPal so no middleman and send as family...so no fees
 
Hey Chris, I hope you were able to enjoy the holidays and was able to get a little rest.
I hope that you are feeling some what better, I know you are due to have more treatments, so I won't write a big thing just wanted to let you know that we are all thinking about and have you in our prayers.
 
Amazed at how rapidly the fund has grown and proud to know you folk who did it.  Maybe if those of us who run web sites could put a link and make a mention things could go faster.  That way, if you can not afford to donate you can still make a difference.

BTW: Wife volunteered to be a living kidney donor for a friends mother.  Inspired me to look into bone marrow donation, but oh damn they dont want me.  Heck, I lost in the first rule for being too old.  They might want you.  So let me give you a heads up on the finances of such an offer.

With a kidney transplant, the hospital / insurance pays everything to type you and get you there if you match.  Then there are other resources that can compensate you for time off work.  I imagine it is the same for bone marrow.
 
I have been a listed donor for years.
I am past the age they prefer, but I believe they will keep me in the database just in case.
Wish more people would register for it. It is a simple swab to do the first step.
Deeper testing is done if you are matched on a very basic level.
 
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