Dear Johnny,

On December 13th, my wife Anna, had an appointment with a Hematologist/Oncologist due

to severe anemia. That night at 7pm, we received a call from the doctor telling us to go to

the Emergency Room for a blood transfusion due to a hemoglobin level of 5.1 (normal

levels are usually between 12.0-15.0). Fifteen minutes later, her doctor called again and told

us she needed to go to a bigger hospital because there was significant percentage of blasts

(immature white blood cells) in her blood. Finding these blasts is a strong indicator of

leukemia. That evening we arrived at the University of Kansas Hospital. After talking with a

nurse, she was admitted to Labor & Delivery unit because, she is also 18 weeks pregnant.

After completing more blood work it was determined that she needed 3 units of blood

because her hemoglobin had dropped to 4.5. The following day two Hematologists came to

deliver the news that she has Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), which is an aggressive form of

Leukemia, and she would need to be admitted to the Leukemia unit to begin a minimum 5

week stay where she would start chemotherapy. The hard part is now that she is

immunocompromised, she is unable to see the kids in person until she can go home. After a

bone marrow biopsy, her form of Leukemia was confirmed. December 20th she began her

first round of chemotherapy and will continue with this round of treatment for a total of 7

days. There is no guarantee that this round of chemotherapy will put her into remission; in

the event that it does not, she will begin another round of treatment. These past few weeks

have been such a crazy, overwhelming, whirlwind of events. This is such a scary time for our

family; but we are staying as positive as we can. We are just trying to focus on what is

happening now and not worry about the future. I just want to say friends and family have

been so great to help out with the boys, meals, and sending well wishes and prayers. You

really have no idea who is in your corner until something like this happens and we are

blessed for the support we have received. I have taken several days off work and it has put

us behind and I just don’t want my wife to have any extra worries. Thank you for reading our

letter. We appreciate it.

Aaron

Who Helped: Bradley, Shane, Kevin, David, Willis, Emily with IBEW Local 124, Stump, Cosentinos

How You Helped: 3 months mortgage, gas/electric and phone bills, Christmas for the kids, groceries