About

Andrei and Steph at the start of Andrei's Hyper-CVAD chemo treatment, October, 2010. It was a tough weekend; Steph's sweet mom passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's while Andrei was in the hospital.

Posting new for you every Sunday morning….

This site is about our search for a cure for Andrei’s leukemia. “What’s that thing?” seems an appropriate title as the whole ordeal with lymphoma and leukemia started last September when Andrei noticed the lymph nodes under his chin and behind his ears beginning to swell and become uncomfortable.

Nearly a year later, we launched this blog site to help raise awareness of lymphoma and leukemia as well as keep our friends and family up-to-date on Andrei’s bone marrow transplant and our associated fund-raising efforts. Unfortunately, Andrei’s cancer relapsed in the summer of 2011 and was extremely resistant to chemotherapy. He never made it to bone marrow transplant, and I’m devastated to say that he passed away due to complications from both chemo and cancer on August 8, 2011.

I, however, am renewing my efforts to keep the torch lit and use this blog to continue to raise awareness while I write the kids’ book on cancer that Andrei and I started. Occasionally, I will have guest bloggers featured here, and will post interviews with various people I encounter through my research. Mainly, my goal is to honor Andrei’s journey and help people become more aware of where cancer comes from and how scientists, doctors, and patients are learning more about it everyday.

As for me, I’m a writer, researcher, and museum educator. My writing site, The Lile Files, can be found in the Links section here at What’s That Thing?.