It feels like only a day has passed since Luke was first diagnosed and yet it also feels like it was a million years ago. We have been fighting this battle for so long and it feels neverending.

Well, here we go again.

I know that we have been trying to stay positive and optimistic during Luke’s relapse. During my last post, I wrote that Luke’s cancer was being held at bay by the immunotherapy, but that the doctors were not sure of his next steps. I think people heard that the cancer was being held at bay and we’re clinging to this silver lining the way that my hair seems to cling to everything.

Yes it is good that the cancer seems to be under control at the moment, but Luke only has one more round of immunotherapy he can do. The question has been what next? How will we keep it from coming back?

The best option for Luke to get rid of this and to try and prevent another relapse is to have another stem cell transplant. This time they are looking for a new donor instead of using his brothers cells. Luke’s blood is still 100% Ben, meaning it is working, but it isn’t recognizing the cancer cells.

This brings me to my next point. If you are eligible to donate and willing, not just for Luke but for anyone who may need a stem cell transplant, please consider signing up for the donor registry. I will link the websites where you can get more information, but all it requires to sign up is a cheek swab. If you are a match for someone, they will contact you to see if you can still donate. The process of donating is easy and non-invasive. A donor is given injections of medication to ramp up the production of stem cells and then they are hooked up to a machine that filters these stem cells out of the blood and return the rest to the donor.

if you are in Canada you sign up to be a stem cell donor using the following link: Canadian Stem Cell Registry

If you are in the United States you can sign up to be a stem cell donor at the following link: US Stem Cell Registry

If you made it this far in the reading thank you. I try to keep these posts really light and optimistic while telling the truth, but that can sometimes be difficult. It is hard for us to process what we are dealing with and putting it into words for others to read can be mentally draining.

We’ve had some time to start working through the emotions of a second transplant. It’s hard for us to accept, but this may be Luke’s last chance to beat this cancer. His chances of relapse are higher than last time but there are currently no other available options. All we can do is hope that this transplant will go well.

Luke is going to keep fighting this, but we could really use all the love, prayers, support, thoughts, and basically any positivity you can send his way.