New Update for Maria Klump and her battle with Multiple Myeloma Maria had her blood checked on Monday April 7th, and her Lambda Light Chains(LLC's) had risen quite a bit to a reading of 107. She will be screened on Friday April 18th to go on another experimental drug. She will need to be hospitalized for 3 days when she goes on this drug, due to chance of kidney failure. This drug shows some promise, but there are few people who have been on it. As always, there are side effects with this drug as well. She also threw her back out 2 weeks ago and has been in extreme pain since. A date has not been set for her to take this drug. Please continue to keep Maria and her family in your daily prayers.

We have an update for Maria Klump and her battle with Multiple Myeloma Cancer. In January of 2014, Maria's blood work showed a slight increase of her Lambda Light Chains(LLC), which is the marker that her oncologist, Dr. Ravi Vij, uses to determine at what stage her disease is at. The higher the number, the more the disease is progressing. The December reading showed a very slight change downward. Her January reading was at 18.9. This reading was a slight increase. The reading from just a few days ago for February showed a reading of 59.0, which is a dramatic increase since her January reading. This is certainly bad news for us. Her oncologist will be screening her in the next few weeks to see what type of drug to put her on. Please continue to pray for Maria and our whole family at this time. Thank You!

Maria Klump ended her clinical trial with the experimental drug that she had been taking in the first week of October. The side effects were too much for her to continue on with the drug. Those side effects remained well after she discontinued using the drug. Her oncologist, Dr. Vij, told her that she needed a break from everything in the short term. Her monthly visit in November, to have her blood checked, showed a slight increase in her lambda light chaines(LLC). Maria's next visit, on December 3rd, showed a surprising slight decrease, although, less than a point, of her lambda light chaines(LLC), for no apparent reason. That is certainly good news for a change. A few weeks ago, Maria was put on a special prayer list by Glen Hogan, a business associate of her husband, Jeff. There have been a few people, who have cancer, that have been on this prayer list, and have had remarkable changes in their condition. Maria is not required to do anything at this time. Her next check on her blood work will be the first week of January. We will keep you posted. We thank all of you that have been praying for her and her family. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This begins the 4th week Maria Klump has been on the experimental drug for her multiple myeloma cancer and I have never seen her in so much pain. She is constantly complaining about her stomach and nausea associated with the drug. She is unable to eat barely anything. I do not not know how long she will be able to stay on the drug. The next meeting with her oncologist is on Tuesday October 15th and we should know by then if a long break from the drug would be advisable. The drug has pushed her Lambda Light Chains(LLC) numbers way down, so maybe a long break would be in order. Again, since this an experimental drug, the long term side effects are not known, but the short term side effects are horrific, to say the least. Please keep Maria and her family, especially, her mother Gina, who has to watch her daughter suffer so much, in your prayers. The next update will be after October 15th. Thank You!

Maria's Journey: BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!! YeeeeHaaa!!!!!We have just...

Maria's Journey: BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!! YeeeeHaaa!!!!!We have just...: BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!! YeeeeHaaa!!!!! We have just received notice that the experimental drug that Maria Klump has been taking over the ...

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!! YeeeeHaaa!!!!! We have just received notice that the experimental drug that Maria Klump has been taking over the past 3 weeks, is working. The drug, Oprozomib, is pushing her Lambda Light Chains(LLC) down. If you recall from our last post, her Lambda Light Chains(LLC), have been rising for several months. The Lambda Light Chains(LLC) serve as a marker for her oncologist, which tells him if her disease is progressing or regressing in her body. The side effects of the drug, however, have increased. Along with the chronic nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, there is also severe acid reflux being felt by Maria. She is on the drug every other week, so she does get a break from taking the drug. Still, this is great news! Thanks be to God who has made all of this possible! Further updates to come.

New Update- September 2013

We have a new update on Maria Klump's conditon in her fight against multiple myeloma cancer. Several months ago, her readings for her lambda light chains(LLC), which is a marker for her oncologist to determine at what stage the multiple myeloma is in her body, have been steadily increasing each month, which means she is currently relapsing from her plasma stem cell transplant that she received in December 2011. She is currently involved in a clinical study at The Siteman Cancer Center/Barnes- Washington University with her oncologist, Dr. Ravi Vij. She is taking an experimental drug called Oprozomib from Onyx Therapeutics, Inc. This is an experimental drug that has been tested on approximately 79 patients thus far. Oprozomib works by preventing the breakdown of protein in cells, causing the cells to die. Cancer cells are more susceptible to these effects than normal cells. Since this is an experimental drug, the long term side effects are not known. Please pray for Maria and her family during this difficult time. There will be more updates to come.