In March, 2009 Jonathan got the news, “You have Acute Myelogenous Leukemia…”

It was only this past March that Jonathan was diagnosed with acute leukemia. None of us can fully wrap our heads around the events of the past few months, but perhaps the best way to begin is to share with you how all of this craziness unfolded. On March 2nd, Jonathan and his wife, Courtney, were marveling at the snow storm that was blanketing DC. The very next day, Jonathan was admitted out of the blue to the ER because his white blood cell counts were dangerously low. So low, in fact, that he was immediately placed in an isolation room.

If it hadn’t been for the routine bloodwork Jonathan’s doctor had done the day before for what was suspected to be nothing more than a sinus infection, we have no idea when all of this would have come to light. The shocking diagnosis of acute myleogenous leukemia (AML) came on March 3rd and by March 5th –Day 3 — Jonathan was being transferred to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to begin immediate treatment for his cancer. Day 4 he had his first bone marrow biopsy and Day 5 he started chemotherapy. In a matter of less than a week, Jonathan went from normal everyday life to cancer patient to chemo champion.

Jonathan was at Hopkins as an in-patient for a little over a month undergoing intense chemotherapy, called induction. The induction phase was intense and exhausting, but when it was completed the best news possible was announced — Jonathan was in remission. To make it a full and lasting remission, another round of chemo would be needed, a second phase of treatment called consolidation. Jonathan returned to Hopkins in May for the first of what was expected to be 4 rounds of high dose chemotherapy that would comprise his consolidation. Everything seemed to be progressing as planned.  But on day 100 Jonathan met with the doctors to learn the results of his most recent bone marrow biopsy. The news was not what we all had expected or had hoped for. Residual leukemia was present in his bone marrow that the high dose consolidation therapy was not able to get rid of. Jonathan’s type of AML was not responding to standard treatment as anticipated, and an immediate change in treatment was needed.

Jonathan’s team of doctors have told him that he is in critical need of a bone marrow transplant for a full and lasting remission. Chemotherapy alone is not enough to cure Jonathan’s leukemia. A transplant as soon as possible, potentially as early as September, is the best chance we have to save his life. His medical team is regularly checking the entire network of national and international donor marrow registries for a potential match for Jonathan, but currently no one on any of the registries is full match. Many people have asked about other experimental treatment options, such as a double cord blood transplant. That is indeed being explored by his medical team as a back up option, but no appropriate matches have been found on the cord blood registries either. So a perfectly matched bone marrow donor remains the best chance for a cure for Jonathan.

Since there currently is no 100% bone marrow donor match for Jonathan, encouraging new donors to join the registry is now the focus of our efforts. The odds of finding a match are 1 in 30,000. Team Haupt has come together with the urgent mission of finding Jonathan that miraculous needle in the bone marrow haystack over the next two months while Jonathan goes through another round of chemo to fight back the AML.

Someone out there is Jonathan’s match…maybe it’s you.

Please consider registering to become a donor… you may just be the perfect match for Jonathan — or one for another patient like him. Please be Jonathan’s life saving hero, allowing him to leave the hospital and get a second chance at the wonderful life he was enjoying with his friends and family prior to his devastating diagnosis!