Pit Bull Rescue
ARFF MO © All rights reserved
ARFF MO PIT BULLS FIGHT CANCER, NOT DOGS
In August, 2017, I was diagnosed with AML (acute myeloid leukemia). One day everything is normal, the next day pure chaos and I am in the fight for my life. My initial treatment was in Columbia, MO. where I was hospitalized for 35 days. I was given a 20% chance of survival.
My only hope for a cure was with a bone marrow transplant in St. Louis at Barnes Jewish Hospital. A transplant raised my odds of survival to 50%. In January, 2018, I had my transplant. My new stem cells came from a 20 year old male in Europe of large stature. Most stem cell/bone marrow transplants come from Germany as they have a mandatory registry. I thank my donor every day for his gift of my life. Being a bone marrow donor is easy! Please consider becoming a donor if you are young and healthy!
I want to thank everyone that has sent cards, prayed, and helped me in my endeavor. Dr Doll and Dr Letendre at Ellis Fischel, Dr.DePersio and his excellent team at Barnes Jewish Hospital, my coworkers in PICU that held fund raisers and visited often, Rosie Gould Rogers for her constant support, Pampered Pets in Cairo MO for boarding Jade and Rocketman for months (and loving on them), Pam and Becky at the Boonville Shelter for helping with Lucy, Neil and Lori Laverty for taking on my wildest child, Odie and rotating dog duties, Brittney and Brandi Hoskins for rotating through dog duties, Gary and Linn Vaught and girls for helping out whenever needed, Christi and Sam Brooks and family including Mitchell for all your help,my best buddy LInda Grant for keeping me focused on the dogs during this horrible time, Chris Clark of Emily's Animal Rescue and the Greater Good organization, and anyone I may have missed. A special thanks to my family for encouraging me, pampering me, and helping with day to day decisions and emotional support. The Bultemeier family was there for my husband Glen and I during the hardest times when we were way from our home for months. They took care of our animals and farm.Janis rotated weeks at the hospital with my husband so I was never alone during this challenging time. When I was admitted to Barnes for my long stay in St Louis, Janis and Adam took care of our elderly coonhound. He died when I was gone. I miss you Bogart and I will see you again some day. Thank you Bummer for keeping me sane, focused on what really matters, and chasing away the fears that creep in during the quiet of the night. I thank my bone marrow donor for his gift of life. I hope to meet him some day! I appreciate all the kind words of encouragement that I have received through Facebook and from people that became part of the ARFF MO family by adopting one of our dogs. If I have forgotten you, I apologize for that. It was not meant to be an oversight.
I take things day by day, and am so far doing great! That is how I plan to keep it.
Bless you all!
Kathryn Ward
Founder of ARFF MO