April 14th, 2019

Dear Ones, This has been a very long three weeks. Mary Mallette went in for her regular check up with Dr. Orlowski on March 22nd and her blood work was questionable. I was with her. He asked her to come back after lunch so he could perform a bone marrow biopsy. She called Kevin and I called Ron and we were all together when it was time for the biopsy. She was a trooper! In no way did any of us expect that anything like this would happen. Having said that, thank goodness they require and she goes to her post breast cancer check ups. As many of you know, she had breast cancer in 2014 and beat it with Dr. Pabst and Dr. Orlowski's skilled and knowledgeable care and her own brand of courage!!! The biopsy revealed questionable blast cells and Dr. Orlowski offered her the choice of going to Wake Forest Baptist Health Center or Charlotte. Although Charlotte is closer to their home, Dr. Orlowski has worked with the Hematology/Oncology physicians at Wake for many, many years. She/we choose Wake. Over the weekend, Mary Mallette and Kevin gathered our family and told them the news. We have THE BEST FAMILY EVER!!! We left for Winston-Salem for an appointment on Monday 3/24 at 11am. We are thankful and grateful they could see Mary Mallette so quickly. And, that has been what this journey has been from questionable lab results, bone marrow biopsies, to a diagnosis, and treatment plan, it has been quick and fierce. Her team at Wake have said that this disease is treatable and curable. It will be a fight, but MM is just the right person to prevail AGAIN! Mary Mallette's diagnosis is AML-Therapy related acute myeloid leukemia-myelodysplastic syndrome. As of today, she has completed 3 rounds of chemotherapy and is on day 14 of this path for total cure. This is a long journey and we need your prayers and good thoughts and energy. Pray for complete remission, pray for a perfect match for her stem cell/bone marrow transplant and pray for all those leading and providing her medical care.

Kevin and I are here. We will be here with her and she will not be alone. We will update you about her progress and appreciate all your prayers.

At this time, we do not have any immediate needs other than your positive thoughts, cards, and notes.

Love, Love, Love

Meg