Carelines Fund


Carelines Fund

Welcome to Mikell’s Carelines page! Thank you for coming to support Mikell in his journey of recovery. Here you can:

Mikell’s MOST RECENT UPDATE

Gratitude and Progress
May 8, 2020

After the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Atlanta, I was worried that my scheduled Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) transplant might be postponed or canceled.  However, after meeting with my excellent Hematology and Transplant team on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, I was reassured that my transplant was still going forward, and my procedure had been moved up so that I could get the transplant sooner.  Of course, my wife and I were elated.  We were told that once we entered the hospital, she would not be able to leave and re-enter the facility.  So, we prepared for a two-week visit and packed everything

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Gratitude and Progress
May 8, 2020

After the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Atlanta, I was worried that my scheduled Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) transplant might be postponed or canceled.  However, after meeting with my excellent Hematology and Transplant team on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, I was reassured that my transplant was still going forward, and my procedure had been moved up so that I could get the transplant sooner.  Of course, my wife and I were elated.  We were told that once we entered the hospital, she would not be able to leave and re-enter the facility.  So, we prepared for a two-week visit and packed everything we thought we would ever need.  Needless to say, we didn't need half of what we packed. On the morning of Monday, March 30, 2020, I anxiously waited on the nurses to come in and start the procedure.  To my surprise, they entered the room with a minuscule IV bag filled with my precious HCT, which we had harvested two weeks earlier.  The entire procedure took all of five minutes, and I was on the way to having my HCT begin the process of engrafting and building up new healthy bone marrow and blood cells. After a two-week hospital stay, I was released to continue recovering my health at home.  It's been around a month-and-a-half, and I am getting stronger every day.  We have been to return to our home in Savannah and have met with a wonderful young oncologist here who will be monitoring my progress and working closely with my team at Emory University Atlanta Winship Cancer Institute.  I am so grateful for all the support, prayers, kind thoughts I have received since my diagnosis in December 2019.  This journey continues to strengthen my resolve and my love of life as well as my love for God, my fellow humans, and all of creation.

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Mikell’s STORY

On December 19, 2019, my wife and I drove from from our home in Savannah, Georgia, to visit a friend in Atlanta who was having Pancreatic Cancer surgery that day. Prior to that, I was feeling fine. I walked and cycled every day and was completing the renovation on our home. 

The next day, as we planned to return home, I developed a non-stop nose bleed in my right nostril. After several hours of trying to get it to stop, we went to the Emergency Room, where I was tested and told I needed to be admitted for further tests. Two days later, a bone marrow biopsy revealed my my Multiple Myeloma. 

To say we were stunned, is putting it mildly.

After several rounds of Chemo, my providers and I decided that a Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) Transplant was my best course of action. I had the transplant on Monday, March 30, 2020, and am now recovering at Emory University Hospital's Winship Cancer Institute. My doctors say I am progressing exceedingly well. 

l'm blessed to have have extraordinary family and community moral and spiritual support. However, needless to say, especially in light of the COVID19 Pandemic and economic downturn--my wife was laid-off yesterday--we do need any kind of financial and material support we can get.

Thanks.  

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