Lymphoma is taking away my life! Immediate help is needed!

Helping adults is perhaps more difficult than children but asking for help for yourself is even harder… I have a wonderful 17-year old son and I don’t want to leave him alone. I see how hopeless he feels every time he looks at me with tears in his eyes. I wish he didn’t have to worry about me and fear the future. It should rather be me, his mom, supporting him in difficult moments! Mike says that he desperately wants to help me but… he’s just a kid, although he believes he’s already an adult. I wish I had a chance to see him graduating from high school next year, to celebrate his first passed exams at a university, feel proud of his first job he’ll get, stand by him especially in tough moments. And later… perhaps help him raise his kids… Am I asking for too much? Please, give me a chance. Without your support I’m left alone with lymphoma – a very aggressive cancer. I don’t want to be defeated by it and to be taken away from my son and beloved ones. Please, help me fight against this disease!

I’m begging for your help so that I could eventually go back to my work as a caregiver at school for disabled children and continue helping these kids becoming more independent. I hope that this way I could somehow repay all the good I am getting now from people of good will who support me.

If you’re asking yourself how to help me - you can donate towards my medical treatment, CAR-T Cell therapy which I have to get as soon as possible. It’s a very effective treatment, giving me 70% chances for remission. Unfortunately, this therapy is not refunded by the National Health System in Poland and it costs well over a million Polish zlotys… that’s the price I was quoted with for saving my life. But I believe it’s in fact a million of good people who decide to donate towards my treatment. This thought gives me so much hope… I strongly believe that all good deeds come back to us sooner than later.

Everything started quite unexpectedly in October 2018. My leg suddenly got swollen. It didn’t seem serious then, but I went for a medical check, got an ultrasound and took prescribed medication. However, swelling wouldn’t go away and a terrible pain would occur. Everything that happened next seemed like the worst nightmare: visit in a rheumatology ward, acute renal failure, several other stays in various hospital wards, renal dialysis and the diagnosis: malignant pelvic cancer. Christmas was coming…

The final diagnosis came in January 2019. It sounded like a sentence of the Supreme Court- with no right to appeal – stage IV of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. By that time the cancer had already spread to my lungs, thyroid and lymph nodes. Yet I had hope for a full recovery, as this cancer is chemotherapy sensitive.

I was immediately admitted to Hematology Ward at a Hospital in Warsaw. I got my first chemotherapy. It was getting better with each chemotherapy cycle thereafter. My kidneys started working again, leg swelling disappeared, I could walk again and eventually after several weeks I could stop taking painkillers. I completed this chemotherapy course in September 2019.

Unfortunately, my joy went away quite quickly. In October I started feeling backpain and a PET-CT scan brought bad news: two new active lesions. Lymphoma had an advantage over me again.

Doctors still saw a chance for a successful treatment, and I continued with chemotherapy, radiology and a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in May 2020. I wish I was able to say then that I won against the cancer. Unfortunately, 2 weeks later the lymphoma was back. This time I heard that unfortunately, there is no other, effective medical treatment covered by the Polish National Health System that can save my life. There is however a very effective treatment - the CAR-T Cell therapy, which is not refunded in Poland and costs well over a million Polish zlotys. My time is running fast and I have to collect this enormous amount of money immediately.

Before I fell ill, I looked after pupils at a school for disabled children. I helped the kids to develop skills they needed to live independent lives. I loved my job and would love to work with the kids again. Unfortunately, it is not possible now as today I need the help of others in order to live. Please, help me win my fight for life!

Anna