We Wish You a Merry Christmas

From my family to yours, we wish you a merry Christmas. Here’s a Christmas story for you.

My brother was diagnosed with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, a type of rare blood cancer, last year around Thanksgiving. Of course, this disturbed our family greatly. Mike is the eldest of the three children in our family, and he’s always had good health. How could Mike have cancer? We tried to wrap our minds around it.

To top things off, Mike was the caregiver for our mother who had Parkinson’s disease. Mom lived downstairs, and Mike lived upstairs. Who would take care of Mom if Mike’s cancer progressed? Would we have to have caregivers for both of them? Mom needed help bathing and dressing and getting around. She certainly didn’t drive anymore. She could still do a little cooking, but she was having falls, and she’d recently broken her hip.

The whole situation seemed hopeless. It was the blind leading the blind. I took care of Mom on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for part of the day to give Mike a break, but I had a part-time job teaching writing that I didn’t want to give up. And I was still caring for my son, who lived with my husband and me. My other brother worked full-time. Mike had retired, so the responsibility went to him.

As things progressed, Mike’s doctors determined that he should take Brukinsa (zanubrutinib), but it was extremely expensive; in short, Mike couldn’t afford it. The Cleveland Clinic (living in Northeast Ohio has its blessings) went to work and got the medication funded by the Healthwell Foundation. The following is a statement about them from their website:

“The HealthWell Foundation is a leading independent non-profit dedicated to improving access to health care for America’s underinsured. When health insurance is not enough, we fill the gap by assisting with copays, premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. In 2024, we awarded more than $1.2 billion in grants through our Disease Funds, and since 2004 we have helped more than 1,100,000 patients afford essential treatments and medications. HealthWell is recognized as one of America’s most efficient charities — 100% of every dollar donated goes directly to patient grants and services.”

My brother was one of these 1,100,000 patients. The Healthwell Foundation pays thousands of dollars per month for the medication so that Mike can continue to survive with almost no interruption to his active lifestyle. All I can say is thank you Healthwell Foundation for giving our brother life, and for giving our whole family unit life. Because of you, we can keep on keeping on.

This is my Christmas story. No, Mike didn’t have to have his own caretaker to assist him in staying alive. No, Mom didn’t lose the loving care of her eldest son.Our family unit did not fall apart.

And the Brukinsa is working! The cancer is lessening; (I guess that’s the word. Let me just say, things are looking up. Let me just say, it’s a miracle.)

So now, just before Christmas, I pray that you are seeing your own cancer miracles or are at least in touch with the sunny side of life somehow.

If you’re not, I would ask you to meditate on everything that is good in this world and remember, Christmas is only a day. It will be over soon. Drink some hot tea with people who love you and whom you love.

Also remember, there are places like the Healthwell Foundation, who go out of their way to help people.Who knows, they might even help you.

From my family to yours: We wish you a merry Christmas.

And a happy new year.