On January 19, 2012, I lost the love of my life to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We were together for 21 years and this was not how our love story was supposed to end. Too young, too soon… still so much to do, to see, to experience – How do you go on? How do you continue life without the other half of you? How do you stop crying in the shower, before the water runs cold? How do you get dressed, put on a smile and face the world – alone? How do you believe again, when everything you believed in is gone?
You find a tiny light in the darkness, a ray of hope – a reason that your life is still worth living. You use the experience of fighting leukemia side by side for two and a half years – 285 nights together in three different hospitals and help somebody else on that same difficult journey. You turn the pain, which is so fierce, into determination to find a cure. Together, we can help The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and they will find a cure. This is their mission, this is their goal, this is why they are in existence! YOU can make a difference! YOU can help save a life! YOU can help change the world – please join me. Blood cancer is the enemy, and LLS is our weapon.
Blood cancers don’t discriminate. Eighteen years ago, leukemia took my cousin, Brandon, when he was only 19, starting college, first love – just beginning life. It’s the most common childhood cancer and affects all ages from babies to the elderly and everything in between. Today more than a million people in the U.S. are living with or in remission from blood cancers – this is tragic!
I’m committed to fighting in my husband Mike's honor, so someday another spouse doesn’t have to lose their soul mate, another parent doesn’t mourn their child passing before them, another child doesn't grow up without their mom or dad, another sister or brother doesn’t have to miss their sibling, another person doesn't suffer the loss of their best friend – I BELIEVE there is a cure in the future and LLS is crucial to this vision!
Patty
AML Caregiver
