Yup, still here on Day 24.  Just when I thought I might get to go home… it appears I may have to stay a bit longer.   Rash and fever = not getting to go home just yet.  My room is decorated and in real estate terms is “cozy” aka small.  Thanks to everyone that came out to celebrate my 33rd birthday!  It really meant a lot to me to see everyone and thanks for decorating the room and chemo-sabi.  On Monday, Courtney and I celebrated our 7th anniversary with a toast of Pellegrino and I have a true 7 year itch with the rash.  Hope to get rid of this fever and rash soon so I can go home.

9/22 FUNDRAISER FOR 2-YEAR OLD ZACH – BETHESDA

Last week we told you about donor drives going on to find a match for 2-year old Zach.

Tonight, Team Zach-DB is gathering for an informal happy hour and silent auction held in Zach’s honor. Small donations will be accepted and proceeds will go to National Marrow Donor Program. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Jonathan’s birthday, and since he’s still at Hopkins we hope you’ll join the cyber celebration we’re having for him!  Leave your best birthday wishes for him here.

Everyone who knows Jonathan realizes that pancakes and pizza are two of his most ab fab things, both to eat and to cook up in the kitchen. So, how appropriate that a pancake and pizza benefit and bone marrow donor drive is being held on his birthday, 9/21, in honor of two fellow leukemia patients, Kyle Noonan and Pat Bertoli? We had to help spread the word and hope you will, too. Read the rest of this entry »

L’ Shana Tova from Team Haupt to everyone out there. We have challah and honey, but celebrating on 5-C just isn’t the same…

At 3:15 AM this morning I had my last rigor and officially finished my FLAM chemo!  I had all the usual suspects…fever, nausea, vomiting and all that fun stuff.  It sure feels good to be finished.  However, they moved me into an isolation room because I may have developed shingles while my counts are so low.  Apparently it’s not uncommon for adults with suppressed immune systems to get shingles.  They’re giving me anti-viral meds so I should be all set.  Thanks to everyone who helped me make it through.  Now I just need to get my strength and counts back and get ready for a mini-haplo transplant in early November.  Piece of cake.

We’re asking everyone connected to Team Haupt to help spread the word about 2 year old Zach’s fight with leukemia and urgent search for a bone marrow donor.

Drives are being held this Saturday in Washington, DC and Scranton, PA and next Saturday at Bolling Air Force Base:

Read the rest of this entry »

Jonathan and I are back in Baltimore this Labor Day, celebrating the official end of summer with a bang: the start of Jonathan’s next  — and hopefully last — round of chemo here at Hopkins. Hard to believe that it’s 6 months to the day since Jonathan started on this crazy chemo battle.

As Jonathan’s last post mentioned, despite the amazing turnout and support for our donor drives throughout July and August, a fully matched donor for Jonathan has not been found. His medical team searched for both bone marrow and cord blood donors to no avail. So, without a perfect bone marrow match or a suitable cord blood donor, Jonathan’s next step is another round chemo — a regimen called FLAM — followed by the mini-haplo transplant Jonathan described the other day, an experimental bone marrow transplant using stem cells from a half-matched donor, later this fall.

But we don’t want you to feel as if the drives were anything less than a success. Team Haupt hosted more than 30 bone marrow donor drives in a month and a half coast to coast.  Read the rest of this entry »