"Hey FAMs I have special request. My sister was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. Would all @GamecockWBB FAMs and anyone who's interested send her a card to keep her spirit up," says Dawn Staley, American basketball Hall of Fame player. Staley reached out to her fans via the Instagram post below to ask if they could send cards with coins taped to them, an inside joke they had with their late mother, as a morale booster for her sister.
Staley currently coaches the South Carolina Gamecocks Women's basketball team. Staley played point guard at the University of Virginia before winning a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. With extensive basketball career, including playing and coaching, Staley has garnered a strong support group through her loyal fans and it was these very fans, whom she refers to as FAMs, that she asked for support from.
The Benefit of Support Networks
Read MoreWhat is Leukemia?
It is unclear what type of leukemia Staley’s sister was diagnosed with nor do we know her treatment plan but there are several types of leukemia. One of those is acute myeloid leukemia."To understand acute myeloid leukemia [AML], you have to understand how the bone marrow works," says Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, Director of the Leukemia Program at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center. "The bone marrow is the factory that makes all of the cells that wind up in our blood stream."
This factory makes red blood cells that bring oxygen to our tissues; white blood cells that make up the immune system; and platelets, which help stop bleeding, Dr. Sekeres says. All of these cells are essential for regulating bodily functions and changes in these cell levels can result in health issues.
"When a person has a cancer of the bone marrow such as acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes, that factory gets broken. These are cancers," he says. "Cancers grow, and they grow in an uncontrollable way."
Dr. Sekeres points out that the way blood cancer grows is different from the way other cancers grow. With breast cancer, for example, someone may develop a lump or a tumor that grows overtime. With AML, as cancer grows in a confined space in the bone marrow, the normal cells in this space that would making the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets begin dying off. This leads to the bone marrow being filled with cancer cells.
What Treatment is a Common Route for AML?
Dr. Sekeres tells SurvivorNet that induction chemotherapy is the first course of treatment for otherwise relatively healthy patients who are younger than 60 years old. However, there are other treatment options that could also be considered.
Dr. Raoul Tibes, Director of the Clinical Leukemia Program at NYU Langone Health tells SurvivorNet that BCL2 inhibitors disable a protein that protects leukemia cells and creating deep and lasting responses in patients with AML. There is also another category of drugs targeting a specific gene known as FLT3 which powers leukemia-cell growth.
Combination therapies are also another route, using drugs like Ventecolax, a BCL2 inhibitor, in combination with other drugs, such as Decitabine or Azacitidine.
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