DAILY NANCY UPDATE #62

Greetings. 

This is the sixty-second in a series of DAILY NANCY UPDATES I will be posting until the amazing Nancy Neufeld Callaway is in full remission and we have kicked her leukemia on its ass. 

If you'd like to be automatically notified of updates to this blog-- just enter your email address in the window on the right beneath Nancy's picture and follow the prompts!

BREAKING NEWS

Okay, I know it's been a few days, and there's a lot of news to share, so I'll do the best I can now to catch everybody up. 

In short, there have been lots of continuing appointments and tests over the last week, and yesterday, Nancy endured another full day of treatment at UCLA.

We're talking blood draws, chemo, another lumbar puncture (!?!), and a full round of intrathecal (spinal) chemo as well. So by the time she got home, she was understandably beat.

But this morning-- she's energized. Why? Well, let's just say we've decided to focus on HOPE. 

CITY OF HOPE, to be exact. After a great deal of thought, research, and soul-searching-- Nancy has decided to shift her care (and impending bone marrow transplant) to City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, California.

Truth be told, UCLA was incredible-- and her doctors there (especially Dr. Schiller) have been absolutely amazing over the past three months. But for a whole host of reasons, some experiential, and others instinctual-- Nancy just feels like this is a change she needs to make right now. Of course, she reserves the right to go anywhere and see anyone it takes to win this fight before it's over-- but right now, a good dose of HOPE seems like exactly what the doctor ordered. 

Naturally, she's already hit the ground running. Today Nancy had 15-- count them, FIFTEEN vials of blood taken in their labs. Then consults with her new lead physician Dr. Stephen Forman (City of Hope's bona fide oncological rock star and an international expert in leukemia) along with a great nurse practitioner who wasted no time laying out the gritty and slightly overwhelming details of her impending transplant.

So while we're on the topic-- here's the update on all that. 

First, we both want to thank everyone who has registered and/or been tested in the hopes of being a viable bone marrow match. That any or all of you would be willing to give so generously of your bodies, hearts, and souls is truly one of the most beautiful displays of love we've ever witnessed.

But fingers crossed-- we think we may have identified a perfect match donor. 

Although it's an anonymous member of the international bone marrow donor bank-- here's what we do know: he's a 20 year old man (yes ladies, it turns out young men are the best possible donors for women fighting A.L.L.-- go figure) who happens to live in Israel (Chag Sameach!) and whose blood apparently meets all the ancestral and hematological requirements necessary to give Nancy the very best chance possible of showing her acute lymphoblastic leukemia the damn door. 

Whoever he is (we can't even make an official request to find out until she's been in remission for a year) - God bless him. Because after already having his blood test added to the donor bank, he's now been located and has consented to a full physical and second round of tests to make sure he's in tip-top shape. Then if all goes well-- he'll check into an Israeli hospital and have a fair amount of his precious blood and marrow collected-- which will then be overnight shipped to Los Angeles for the Sunshiny Superwarrior Goddess. We're hoping all of this will take place around the first of May.

But lemme be crystal clear. This is far from a done deal-- so we don't want to discourage anyone's desire to be tested (see information below), because any number of things could go wrong between now and then-- forcing us to begin our search all over again. 

Nevertheless, in the name of good old fashioned blind faith optimism-- your extra special thoughts and prayers couldn't be more appreciated right now.

WE LOVE NANCY, and... 

ALL IS WELL!

HEADLINES

Please visit the link below for more information on how you can help in the search for a bone marrow transplant donor. Remember, even if you're not a match for Nancy-- sooner or later, you'll be a match for someone. And you might just save that person's life.

HOW TO HELP NANCY FIND A BONE MARROW DONOR