T's Letter to the family

Hey everyone, I wanted to first of all thank you all SO much for your help during our wedding ceremony and reception! Mandy and I enjoyed it very much, and you all had a huge part in making it so special! Even though I wasnt feeling 100% just getting over my pneumonia I had a very special day and night!

Quite a few of you know more about what is going on with me with regards to my health, but I wanted to update everyone on whats going on. The weekend before the wedding I was pretty sick, and it eventually got so bad that I needed to see a doctor. I went in on monday (week of the wedding), and he looked me over to see what was going on. They took a blood sample, and found that my white blood cell count was extremely high (132,000.......compared to normal which is under 10,000). He was actually in stunned amazement that I seemed pretty healthy other than my cold symptoms. My blood pressure, temperature and most everything was quite normal. They took a chest X-Ray and found that I had pneumonia pretty deep in my system. They took a second sample of my blood to make sure the first one wasnt a mistake, and sent it to Stevens hospital. They sent me home and were to call me when they got the results back in one hour.
When they received the results, they were the same...........and the doctor told me to go directly to the ER at Stevens. Once there they put me on an IV right away to hydrate me and help me get on the mend, and we waited to hear from the pathologist about my blood sample. The ER doctor informed me very matter of factly that he had never seen this high a white blood cell count in 10 years of being an ER doc at Stevens. He knew that it was most likely Leukemia, and told us as much. We were both very scared upon hearing this news, but knew that I was in good hands. Before we got the results, they decided to admit me to the hospital and I was to hear from an Oncologist later monday night.

The results did indeed confirm that I have Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). By the time we heard the results, I had already begun to think ahead as to how I will fight this blood cancer. I will fight this cancer the same way I have always taken on a challenge! I will remain positive through this and will move forward as planned. I am so thankful for all of the gifts I've been given in life, and this wont change that. I am an extremely blessed man, and now with Mandy by my side I am more blessed than ever!

Fortunately, I have a form of Leukemia that is treatable, and it looks like we caught it soon enough to be able to fight it quickly. Over the next few weeks we will learn more as the results of my bone marrow sample come in, and my blood is examined on a weekly basis.

I am very confident with all the love surrounding us from family and friends that we will be able to get through this! You have all treated me like family from the beginning, and I respect all of you so much! I want you all to know that I am feeling well, and Mandy and I have enjoyed married life to the utmost thus far. We had a week to relax after the wedding and I am now back at work full time. Please pray for both of us to fight this blood cancer.

Originally posted by Tyler on Thursday March 29, 2007 - 02:31pm