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SIERRA VISTA — It’s around 6 a.m. on a cloudy Thursday as Krystle Lynn gathers the things she needs for her trip to Tucson.
She’ll take a book, a list of questions for doctors and a little spending money for lunch.
Accompanied by her dad, David Lynn, the two are headed for University Medical Center, where Krystle will be going through another chemotherapy treatment.
For the past couple of years, the 22-year-old’s life has been filled with frequent trips to UMC, bouts of illness from chemotherapy, brief periods of good news and a failed bone marrow transplant. Through it all, she is managing to juggle a job and raise her 4-year-old daughter, Cipriana. Her grit and determination has amazed her fiance and father of her little girl, as well as family, friends and co-workers.
  
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And now Krystle’s life hinges on a second bone marrow transplant. Fortunately, she has a younger brother who happens to be an exact match. It’s one piece of good news for Krystle, who has been suffering from Hodgkin’s lymphoma for five years. Because the cancer went undetected by physicians for the first three years of her illness, Krystle’s lymphoma was at an advanced stage by the time she was diagnosed.
“Once my doctors knew what was wrong with me, the cancer was at stage 3, almost stage 4,” said Krystle, who has become familiar with UMC North, where cancer patients are treated. “Even though it was really frightening to hear the cancer diagnosis, I was relieved to know what was wrong with me. I finally had a diagnosis and could get started with treatment.”
That was in August 2006.
“I went through six months of chemo, every two weeks,” Krystle recalled as she described the treatments.
In March 2007, right before her 21st birthday, doctors stopped the chemotherapy. Tests showed that the cancer was in remission and doctors believed that Krystle “was doing great.”
“It was the best possible birthday present,” she said. “I was elated.”
But the reprieve was short-lived.
In August 2007, a follow-up positron emission tomography, or PET, scan showed the cancer had returned with a vengeance, roaring back even more aggressively than before.
The news was devastating for Krystle.
“At that point, the doctors told me I was chemo-resistant. But they resumed the chemo anyway, this time three times a week for about three months,” she said.
In addition to the chemotherapy, her oncologist recommended a bone marrow transplant, where Krystle would be her own donor. To prepare for the procedure, she had to undergo a series of chemotherapy treatments that wiped out her immune system. During the month of December, Krystle remained in Tucson, where she saw a doctor every day, seven days a week.
On Jan. 2, she was admitted into UMC for the bone marrow transplant. The transplant occurred on Jan. 11. She remained hospitalized until Jan. 24.
“The reason you’re hospitalized is because they bring your immune system completely down with the chemo,” she said. “It’s actually a lethal dose. I was taking 128 pills for three days, and was on liquid chemo for three days. Your immune system completely drops through this. I had no white cells, no red cells and no platelets.”
Along with the aggressive chemotherapy, Krystle was injected with a medication that stimulated her bone marrow to produce stem cells and had blood drawn every day.
Upon her release from UMC, Krystle had to stay close to doctors in Tucson for daily follow-up appointments until Feb. 20, with a round-the-clock caregiver. Since a caregiver is not something her insurance covers, Krystle’s mother, Denise Plumb, arranged time away from work to stay with her daughter. In addition, Krystle’s 21-year-old fiance, Anthony Gasson, would take time off work as often as he could, and he would bring Cipriana to visit her mother.
Things seemed to be going well after the bone marrow transplant. A follow-up PET scan in March indicated the procedure was successful.
Unfortunately, it was another brief reprieve.
A PET scan in May revealed the cancer had returned.
“The tumors were huge,” Krystle said. “My doctor was really shocked and disappointed. I had to be put back on chemotherapy and we had to try to find a bone marrow match, since my own didn’t work. That’s when we discovered that my 16-year-old brother (Michael Lynn) is an exact match.”
With a pick line in her arm and a port in the left side of her chest, Krystle puts on her game face and continues to work at the Sports Gallery, where she is a bartender and food server. As she braces for the second bone marrow transplant, which her oncologist believes will be in September, she manages to work on the days of her chemotherapy treatments.
It’s a feat that amazes her employer, Dr. Bill McCormick, a local orthopedic surgeon who, along with his medical practice, owns the Sports Gallery where Krystle has worked for two years.
“Krystle is an amazing person. She’s still trying to work, she’s raising a 4-year-old and she’s facing another bone marrow transplant,” McCormick said. “She’s a very hard worker, in spite of how sick she is.”
McCormick also talked about the young family’s financial situation.
“The big problem is that she has this little girl that needs a baby-sitter while she’s hospitalized. And it’s a Catch-22 for them, because the child’s father works on Fort Huachuca and makes just enough money to prevent them from qualifying for any kind of assistance. But with Krystle’s hospitalization and treatments, they’re really in a financial bind,” he said.
The Sports Gallery tried helping the family by putting up posters and signs, collecting donations from customers.
“It’s just a shame for someone so young to have to go through this,” McCormick added. “She apparently had a difficult diagnosis with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at a very young age. In spite of it all, she’s maintained an amazing attitude through this.”
Following the second marrow transplant, Krystle will need to be hospitalized several days, as well as remain in Tucson for at least 100 days, again with a caregiver. She’s concerned about how they’re going to manage the caregiver issue, as her mother has already missed long stretches of work. In addition, her fiance won’t be able to take much time away from his job.
“The price of gas to go to Tucson for my treatments, and then having to stay in Tucson, makes this so difficult for us,” Krystle said.
Sandee Garcia, a close friend of Krystle’s who met her in a class at Cochise College, expressed her concern for the family.
“She has already gone through so much, and now the bone marrow transplant failed,” Garcia said. “I’m very worried about her and the family. It seems like her cancer is getting worse and worse. I’m praying this second bone marrow transplant works for her. Something like this is always difficult for any family, but what makes this especially sad is they’re such a young family.”
As sick as she is, Krystle says she has a lot to live for.
“I have a wonderful, supportive family, a beautiful little girl and my fiance has been just amazing. We’ve been together since we were 16, and he’s been right there for me, this whole time.”
And she has big plans for her future. Krystle will be registering for courses at Cochise College, pursuing an accounting degree.
“I’m good with numbers,” she said. “I’m going to take my computer with me when I’m going through my treatments so I can take my classes online. I have a lot to live for, and I’m not letting this beat me.”
REPORTER Dana Cole can be reached at 515-4618 or by e-mail at dana.cole@svherald.com.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Krstyle Lynn’s mother, Denise Plumb, has set up an account for her daughter at Bank of America. Money donated to the account, called “Kystle’s Medical Fund,” will be used for extraneous expenses the family will be incurring because of Krstyle’s long hospitalizations and extended stays in Tucson. In addition, the family may have to pay a caregiver, as Krstyle will need someone 24 hours a day, seven day a week following her bone marrow transplant. The Bank of America account number is 457009384011.
Members of the community are in the process of organizing other fundraisers for the family, but those plans have not been finalized. The Herald/Review will keep the community updated as more information becomes available.
Cassandra wrote on Aug 22, 2008 4:19 AM: