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My name is Cortney
Ciccarelli, I am 25, and I have leukemia. I was first
diagnosed in 1989. I went through two years of chemotherapy,
and was cured, so they said. In 1999, my last year of
college at UCLA, I found a tumor on my ovary.
Since that relapse I have undergone two major abdominal
surgeries, endured three years of hospital stays, 15
rounds of chemotherapy, four rounds of radiation, a
bone marrow transplant, graph versus host disease, survived
the most resistant strain of staph-infection
(as well as 10 other bouts of staph-infections),
five bouts of pneumonia, the CMV virus, the VRE virus,
a shattered tibia which was followed by 9 months of
crutches, two brain surgeries, as well as a brain infection,
and I have lost my hair five times. I did have a short
period of remission but I now find myself battling the
disease again for the ninth time. I have just endured
three months in the hospital with two intense rounds
of chemo and a second transplant is planned, once another
match is found.
The battle is tough; I fight
nearly every day to stay alive. It is an obvious battle,
one that everyone can see. I am bald, I am scarred,
and I have tubes coming out of me. It is obvious I have
cancer. The battle that people can't see is the stress
and financial burdens that I face. I lie in my hospital
bed more worried about how I am going to make rent,
or pay my bills than how I am going to find the strength
to fight another day. I have been sick and unable to
legally work for virtually my entire adult life. The
only medical coverage I qualify for is Medicare/Medi-cal,
which states that if I work I lose my coverage. Given
my pre-existing condition I am left with little alternatives
but to rely on government assistance, and my family.
The government allots $700 for me to live on monthly,
but it is not nearly enough in Los
Angeles. My bills keep
mounting and I dread being a financial burden on my
family and friends. My family has been truly amazing
through all of this. They have sacrificed so much for
me these past five and a half years. My mom has taken
off of work to be by my side, and has flown out from
Missouri for every
hospital stay leaving my dad and 14-year-old brother
for months at a time. My sister even took a semester
off of school to be my full time caretaker. I feel incredibly
fortunate to have the love and support that I do.
I hope that one day I will
be cured, that all cancer patients will be cured. But
until that happens I don't want another person to suffer
like I have. These past months in the hospital I have
tried to fulfill my dream for the future: to insure
that nobody else will worry like I do. I have founded
The Cortney Ciccarelli Wish
Foundation (501 3 c). Its sole purpose is to relieve stress for the patient so that all
of their energy can be focused on healing
. I am not alone
in my battle, in fact I am lucky; I am not a mother
or a wife. I don't have kids to take care of while I
am fighting. I don't have a mortgage in jeopardy. As
of now no charities grant wishes to adult bone marrow
transplant recipients. The foundation will fulfill my
wish that nobody else will lie in their hospital bed
wondering how he or she will survive financially once
they have survived their illness.
Cortney
Ciccarelli
Founder/CEO
Cortney Ciccarelli
was an amazing young woman, daughter, sister and friend.
She was also a young woman battling leukemia. On August
26, 2005, at the age of 26, Cortney lost her fight against this terrible disease.
She will be missed often, loved always and her amazing
spirit will live on through the Cortney
Ciccarelli Wish Foundation she created and continues
to inspire.
Why a Dandelion for the Logo? :
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As a child we wish upon the first star we see at night, On
a birthday candle, four leaf clover, a falling
star, a truck full of hay, and when we blow on a dandelion gone to seed.
Cortney wanted a symbol for a
wish.
The beauty of the dandelion is when you make your wish,
you can watch thousands of possibilities drift magically through the air,
and flying far and near. Miraculously planting themselves
in mother earth to bloom.
Wishes can come true. You just need to make them heard and
feed them and watch them grow.
Next time you see a dandelion. Think of Cortney and make a wish.
Please help us keep Cortney Ciccarelli Wish Foundation thriving and
alive.
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