Please help fund Eileen’s Bone Marrow Transplant

My mom Eileen is a very active lady who loves helping her family & friends. Everyone knows her as a very helpful, caring & kind hearted lady who gives her time very generously and always with a smile on her face.

In 2014, mom was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. It started off as a painless lump on her neck but turned out to be malignant. She had to undergo total thyroidectomy and it was a very painful post operative experience for her. This was the first time I had seen mom in so much pain and seeing her cry after her operation because of the pain is something I vividly recall. As time went by, she seemed to have recovered from her operation.

In Nov 2016, following the celebration of my son's first birthday, mom discovered bruises on her arms and legs and she bravely decided to take herself to A&E at SGH on her own. She called me from there and asked me to meet her at the hospital. As I was rushing down to the hospital, my phone rang and it was the doctor calling me to inform me that mom's platelet count was exceptionally low and they suspected she had leukemia. My heart sank as I knew that the prognosis of leukemia is usually not good. Mom had to be admitted immediately for treatment and they started her on chemo in the next few days. Going through 4 chemos was very tough for mom who was always very active. The chemo made her very tired and she also lost her appetite. She told some of our family members that being "trapped" in bed and being isolated was her worse nightmare as she loved being around people and doing things.

Fortunately, mom has pulled through the chemo but her chance for long term survival depended on securing a matching bone marrow donor. Fortunately we have been blessed as 2 donors were located and one of the two had a very good match. Unfortunately this donor is residing overseas, which meant that the cost of securing the bone marrow was 3 times that of the local donor and would cost us $63K just to secure the transplant and excludes mom's 2-3 months hospitalisation and other treatments.

My family has dug deep into our savings to help fund this but we cannot afford to do it on our own. Mom used to work as a part-time night nurse but can no longer do so with this illness. Dad is semi-retired and it is fortunate that for the most part, his service in the army has covered mom's hospitalisation bills. However this is a large upfront expense that we will have to pay for and we need help. Without this bone marrow transplant, her prognosis is not good.

I hope you will be able to help us fund mom's bone marrow transplant so I can live to see my grandchildren grow up. I am a simple person and lead a simple life. My niece helped me write this as I did not finish school and can't write very well. Your gift to me will not go unacknowledged and I thank you for your generosity and will keep you in my prayers.

We will keep you updated of my progress and as of now, I am scheduled to start my final tests in May and from there the doctors will determine the transplant date.