rare cancer ALAL -both ALL and AML

Posted by Liz21054 @lizzyket, 18 hours ago

husband diagnosed with rare acute leukemia. was set for a bone marrow transplant but his cancer relapsed. they are now trialing different chemotherapy and potentially a new oral medication the FDA just approved. we are seen at mayo clinic since we live here. We have been told we may need to be sent to MD Anderson in Houston TX for clinical trials to get him into a full remission. I work at mayo clinic Rochester and my husband is a veteran. we are wondering what support systems are out there and if we need to go to Texas how can I keep my job at mayo while being off work that long. they said we could be there 1-2 months.

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Hi @liz21054 I’m sorry to hear about your husband’s relapse and a delay in his transplant. I had my transplant for AML at Mayo-Rochester and the doctors/staff there are amazing. Hopefully your husband will be able to go ahead with this after his next round of treatments.

I’m wondering if you can speak with a social worker at Mayo in the transplant department. They are so knowledge and usually the go-to person to help with suggestions for financial and support systems.
I have great reference site in a discussion I started a while ago with information about the nbmtLINK. (National Bone Marrow Transplant Link). It’s a website that is filled with resources, podcasts and other information for BMT patients and care givers. Here’s the link to the discussion. The link to nbmtLINK is in the opening paragraph.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/bone-marrowstem-cell-transplant-informational-website/
There’s also Family and Medical Leave which provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. Might be worth a look.
https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla
Have you talked to anyone in HR at Mayo to see if there are programs to help you secure your job?

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