A Transplant For the Cure - Tired, Weary and Worn

Kyle Crane, Karen Luehrman, Pearl Luehrman,
Lois Luehrman Crane, Lindsey Crane, Janette Luehrman Fuller,
Cindy Thomas.

My sister was diagnosed with CLL/SLL at the age of 54. She started receiving traditional chemotherapy treatments in St. Louis in 2008. She was in remission by the end of the year and was able to regain her overall health and live an active lifestyle.

In early 2010, the cancer was back again. Karen did not like the side-effects of chemotherapy and actively sought out alternative treatments. She engaged the services of a physician who specialized in holistic natural healing treatments.

She also relied heavily on her strong faith in the healing power of Jesus Christ.  However, her oncologist convinced her that she was dealing with a serious disease and she would need more chemo treatments to keep it under control.

In August, our father had a major heart attack. He passed away on October 14. Karen was taking chemo treatments at the time of his death. She was at the top of her game when she sang at our father's funeral on October 17. You would have never known that she was fighting her own battle with a serious disease as she sang some of our father's favorite hymns.

By early 2011, Karen was back in remission and feeling almost as well as her pre-cancer days. She would not have to face more cancer treatments until late
2014

A chronic disease is defined as "continuing a long time or recurring frequently". CLL will respond to treatment but it will come back over and over again. The medical community believes that the only hope for a cure is a stem cell transplant. Karen rejected this option for a long time because of the long, hard recovery period. She eventually came to understand that this was her only chance for a cure.

A Transplant for the Cure - Summer, 2008

My sister Karen was always a very active person. She loved to work outside in her yard and garden. She enjoyed hiking and biking in the near-by parks.

Things began to change in the summer of 2008. She felt fatigue and noticed that the lymph glands under her arms were swollen. She also developed an annoying cough.

Karen had numerous medical tests run and eventually she was diagnosed with CLL/SLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia/ small lymphocytic lymphoma). My sister had cancer in her blood. 

Hurricane Ike hit southeast Texas in August, and our electricity was out for over a week. We loaded up the truck and went to my mother-in-law's house in Oklahoma to wait for our electricity to be restored. While we were in Oklahoma, my sister was in the hospital in St. Louis.

I decided to fly to St. Louis the next week and stay with my sister when she got home from the hospital. I arrived in St. Louis on Saturday and Karen was out of the hospital and feeling much better. On Sunday, my mother, father, Karen and I spent the afternoon at the Route 66 State Park in Eureka, Missouri. I took some pictures and later used them to make the video slideshow that I have posted below.

The next week, I went with Karen to receive a chemotherapy treatment at the hospital. This was the first time I had witnessed a treatment like this. She laid back in a reclining chair and received the chemotherapy through an IV in her arm. It seemed to be fairly easy and painless.

Karen was not going to let this affliction keep her down. She went back to work at Joyce Meyer Ministries before the end of the week and I was left at home watching TV and catching up on my reading.

I headed back to Texas thinking that she would soon be in remission and back to her old lifestyle.

She was in remission several times...but the disease kept coming back.

Expect A Miracle

Oral Roberts, the famous televangelist from Tulsa, Oklahoma, frequently proclaimed, "Expect a miracle".   Today my sister is traveling to Tulsa to be treated at a Cancer Treatment Center of America.  We are expecting a miracle.

Karen was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in August, 2008.  She took a series of chemotherapy treatments and the cancer was in remission in Jaunary, 2009.  In February, 2010, the lymphoma had returned.  Karen rejected more chemo treatments and tried an alternative treatment using food supplements and a strict vegetarian diet.  The cancer has spread so she went to the CTCA last week for a three-day evaluation. 

My sister will have a PET scan tomorrow and then meet with an onocolgist on Friday to review the test results and plan her future treatments.  I will document her progress on this blog.