Right now Owen needs daily platelet transfusions. The best way to help him is to donate blood or platelets through the Red Cross: https://sleevesup.redcrossblood.org/campaign/owens-leukemia-journey/ I had some anemia pop up during a routine blood test in October and we've spent the last few months trying to figure out the cause. On January 2nd 2025 the doctors determined that it is plasma cell leukemia which is where my bone marrow is producing bad plasma cells diluting my blood and causing problems in my 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. My chemo treatments started on 1/5 and will be shots and pills, so I'll be able to stop into the hospital for a couple hours and then be on my way. The doctor says that these are pretty well tolerated, so I'll feel it but I might not lose my hair. This will continue for 4 months and then I'll take a month off during which time they'll harvest some of my stem cells. At that point it'll be time to restart the system by spending 3 weeks in the hospital while they kill off all my bone marrow and transplant my stem cells back into my body. At that point they say that it's going to feel like I'm back to normal. The cancer will have been crushed into the furthest corner of my bone marrow and won't be affecting things for a bit. The issue will be: when does it come back? To hold it at bay, I'll be routinely taking a cocktail of drugs that the doctors can tweak if things aren't working. Unfortunately, It will always be there and it always comes back eventually. So pretty much the worst news. There are a few things in my 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 majority of the drugs used to treat this disease were released in the last 5 years and so there just isn't long term data on survival rates using them. Third is that although UVM doesn't have much experience with this type of cancer, they are already consulting with Dana Farber in Boston who have signed off on the treatment plan and have added me to their system to keep track of how things are going. They're also in network! So hooray for not going broke because of this. Much love to you all and hope to see you all soon! -Owen