Bad News: Relapse

After two years of chemotherapy treatments, good health, and beginning to return to normal life, Bonnie developed bruising and a slight fever while on a business trip to Boulder. We hoped it might be abnormal blood levels caused by medication, but on Thursday of last week we discovered the reality: Relapse.

What does this mean? It means that Bonnie's original course of chemotherapy wasn't able to eradicate the leukemia, that it has returned, and that we need to go through the whole process again. (As a reminder, for those who are curious to research leukemia, Bonnie has A.L.L. or Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.)

On Saturday, Bonnie was admitted to the hospital for about a month. She will undergo chemotherapy designed to get her back into remission. After this, instead of doing the same chemotherapy regime she did over the last few years, she will likely undergo a bone marrow transplant.

Bonnie has a sister, and there is a 25% chance that she is a match for a bone marrow transplant. If she is not a match, there is a 80% chance she can find a match through the national registry. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it -- for now we are focused on getting her back into remission.

You can learn more about the National Marrow Donor Program by clicking here.