Owen's leukemia journey

Owen had some anemia pop up during a routine blood test in October and we've spent the next few months trying to figure out the cause. On January 2nd 2025 the doctors determined that it is plasma cell leukemia which is where his bone marrow is producing bad plasma cells diluting his blood and causing problems in his liver, spleen, and kidneys leading to the anemia. This is pretty much the worst case scenario as the disease is a very rare, very aggressive form of leukemia and has a poor long term survival rate. Owen started chemo treatments started on 1/5 with shots and pills, so I'll be able to stop into the hospital for a couple hours and then be on my way. He did not loose his hair, but the chemo crashed his bone marrow and blood counts. There were a rough couple months of Owen being in and out of the hospitals. The doctors took him off the chemo treatment and put him on more targeted cancer treatments. His PCL showed a T11,14 mutation which occurs in some multiple myelomas and meant that his cancer would be suspectable to the drug venetoclax. After 3 cycles of a treatment cocktail including this new drug his cancer load has decreased from 80% down to 20%. Due to the PCL not-having responded to all the drugs they tried in the first couple months Owen has been deemed eligible for a new CarT treatment. The hospital will collect his T cells and send them to a lab to be genetically modified to track down and kill off his cancer specifically. Then those GMO cells get infused back into his body. The CarT treatment is very new. If Owen had been diagnosed in 2025 he would have gotten a stem cell transplant instead. After the CarT treatment Owen should feel back to normal. The issue will be: when does it come back? To hold it at bay, he will continue a routine cocktail of drugs that the doctors can tweak if things aren't working. There are a few things in Owen's favor. First is that most people diagnosed with this are usually in their 60's and 70's. Hopefully being young and otherwise healthy helps out my case. Second is that the CarT treatment is so new science doesn't have long term data on it's success. 30% of people who got this drug 5 years ago continue to have no reoccurrence of cancer. Hopefully this new treatment will give us all more time with Owen feeling healthy. And that gives science more time to discover even better treatments. Donate blood or platelets in honor of Owen through the Red Cross: https://sleevesup.redcrossblood.org/campaign/owens-leukemia-journey/