Go, Val, Go!

Help me get my family get through a tough time as we get ready for my upcoming month long stay in the hospital for a stem cell transplant.

Hey there! My name is Valerie and I've been dealing with the ups and down of cancer treatment for Hodgkins Lymphoma for almost 3 years. (Please read the very important update below.) This life changing news came in July of 2010. My children were just 3, 5, 6, and 9 years old at the time and I was an energetic 29 years young. Talk about stoping you in your tracks!

So many options to consider and choices to make. In that time we have done everything from the most natural treatments and lifestyle changes to the intravenous use of high dose vitamin C, photo dynamic therapy, and ozone saunas. We have done specialty "targeted" chemo with immuno therapy. All worked at shrinking the cancer to an undetectable size to the scans, none kept it away.

We spared no expense to try and get me well. Many fundraisers got us through these years, but new growths in new places kept appearing. Three months after I had a "clean" PET scan, I went though the most difficult time of my life. I started to feel sensations in my arms that turned into excruciating nerve pain. I also felt sensations and numbness in my legs. In a matter of weeks I went from walking to completely paralyzed from my chest down all the while experiencing burning nerve pain in my arms and hands. It was scary. I wondered how much of my "old life" I'd ever have again.

I underwent radiation to my spine, because a tumor was crushing my spinal cord, and a regimen of first line treatment known as ABVD chemotherapy. Although it took me several months to learn how to walk again and care for myself, I'm happy to report that today I walk and function so well that when people find out what happened, they are surprised. I'm even learning to dance again! Things were really looking up, and I was excited to get on with my life trying to once again be the mommy and wife I like to be.

Then the brain tumor came. Ahhhh! Seriously?!? My vision suddenly blurred, we went in and there it was. Literally messing with my head! Apparently, I'm one of the few people on the planet that has had Hodgkins Lymphoma manifest in the brain. Lucky me! Haha! (I'm so kidding!)

I had to go under the buzzing beams of radiation once more, but now it was pointed at my head! I got through that fine, but upon another PET scan (I do a lot of those) another tumor was discovered growing in my chest. I went back on ABVD and after 2 cycles it was determined that the dang tumor was growing and had doubled in size! It seemed to catch my doctor by surprise, it certainly wasn't what we wanted to hear. Looked like my body had grown resistant to the treatment. Boo.

So here we are, almost 3 years from the start of this wild ride. I have a new doctor at the Mayo Clinic, who is a leading expert in his field, and I have just completed 2 cycles of a new regimen called ICE chemotherapy. Yay!!!

But wait...the fun has just begun... I am preparing to get an autologous stem cell transplant. That's a fancy way of saying we are going to make you really sick and keep you in the hospital for 4 weeks, then a month of 24 hour home care and confinement. Joy! Hehe! I am dreading it, yet I'm looking forward to it at the same time. We hope my Dr is right and this will be the thing that ends this cancer ride forever!

I want hair! I miss fussing with it every day! (Vain, but so very true.) So for the next 3 weeks,

I have a million appointments to prepare me for my 6 days of high dose chemo (bleh) and the following stem cell transplant. My doctor, Dr. Reeder has the belief that this treatment will give me the best chance of staying in remission for the rest of my life. That's what we want more than anything!

My younger kids will ask me, "mommy, is the cancer gone yet?" once in a while, and I want to be able to look into their eyes and say, YES!!!

I hate that money is a part of all of this stress, but it is. My husband is my rock. I need him to be available for me and our 4 kids without having to worry too much about work and paying bills. We are trying to raise enough money to sustain us for the next 3 months.

The money will be used for gas, co-payments, food, electricity, water, car payments, insurance payments, and phone bills. There are so many generous friends of ours that have already helped make miracles happen for us. For this we are very grateful and eternally indebted to them. I only hope to pay it forward in the future for someone else.

Our goal for this campaign is to get the word out to 1000's of people and get as many $5, $10 or $20 donations as we can.

"Many hands make light work."
Give a little, share a lot! Thank you!!!

With Great Gratitude, Valerie Aguinaga

Click here to read my personal blog.

Update: We recently found out that Valerie was misdiagnosed in 2010. She DOES NOT have Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Her new diagnosis is Large B Cell Lymphoma and we were stunned to learn that she has been receiving the wrong kind of chemotherapy for over a year. This this is most likely the cause for her relapses but we are grateful that her doctor was diligent enough to connect the dots and put her on the right track. This development set her back in treatment for at least 2 months. For more details about this click here. Also, click the Donate button below to make a donation.