BLAKE SLADE

I am a 33-year-old newly diagnosed patient of not one, not two, but all three Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. I was diagnosed with an auto immune disease as a teenager (Ulcerative Colitis) and have spent most of my adult life in and out of hospitals in multiple major cities and states. I have had to surgically remove my gallbladder after two years of gall stone attacks and damage to other internal organs in 2012. Since then I have passed 18 kidney stones and have stones in my kidneys right now that are too large to pass naturally. If I didn’t hit the medical lottery I was told by my crohn’s /colitis specialist at UMIAMI hospital on my 33rd birthday, literally, that she was certain there was something wrong with my blood and I needed to rush to see a hematologist immediately. I didn’t want to make anyone nervous unless or until I had a diagnosis so just like every other doctor I have been to since I got my driver’s license I went to the Monter Cancer Center in long island, New York alone.

Now mind you, I am already someone with moderate to severe health issues, I have been on Immunosuppressant’s for 7 years on the highest prescribed dose and I take 42 pills every day and I get bacterial infections pretty much every time I fly or am in a medical building which is pretty much weekly on travel and medical. So, I go to the Monter Cancer Center and get all sorts of blood panels done on me. They confirmed almost immediately that I had the JAK2 mutation and that I had essential thromboycthemia( A chronic MPN, characterized by an increased number of platelets in the blood) and they wanted me to come back in two days for bone marrow biopsy’s and aspiration’s. I went alone because I didn’t want to cause panic, and was unable to get anesthesia. What a wonderful feeling it is to have a 4.5inch needle being drilled into your spine and hip bone chipping away and breaking pieces of your bones and into the actual liquid part of the bone marrow where they confirmed the scarring and the Myelofibrosis (a chronic blood cancer in which excessive scar tissue forms in the bone marrow and impairs its ability to produce normal blood cells) in early stages. A few weeks later my entire body with the exception of my private parts and hands, my entire body started developing skin lesions everywhere that doubled in surface every 48 hours. When I was sent to a handful of doctors for this all we confirmed is that this is something that can come and go and can last months at a time. This helped also confirm the Polycythemia Vera (is a chronic, progressive (MPN) primarily characterized by an elevation of the red blood cells). It has been over four months and I still have gross lesions on my stomach, ribs, thighs etc. I couldn’t shave my beard until two weeks ago because the skin issues spread to my face and I wanted to cover as much as possible. I am not the type of person to ever feel self-conscious with my appearance or being intimate with someone or being in the dating world, until now.  I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror and was disgusted by my appearance for the first time in my life I didn’t like what was looking back at me in the mirror. But let’s forget vanity because that’s gone out the window by now.

I am more concerned in the tremendous amount of silent/hidden pains that I am tortured with on a daily basis. Another patient on this website worded it so well when she called it a hidden disease. When the skin on my face cleared up, or when the beard covered it, everyone told me how great I looked when I literally felt like I was hit by a truck about ten times in a row. I can’t tell you how many heating pads I have gone through to help with the pain. Since I have an inflammatory bowel disorder I can’t take pain killers. One baby aspirin caused me to lose 2 pints of blood in 48 hours and I needed three bags of Iron and Saline infused to make me healthier, not anemic, or iron deficient. I had to start taking folic acid instead of injections of B12 shots daily. Also, I have been needing to remove a pint of blood or so every week or ten days since diagnosis because my platelet count doesn’t stop climbing, nor does my WBC, RBC, hemoglobin and hematocrit which makes me very likely to have a blood clot anywhere anytime that could prove to be fatal. Most people I have shared this story with are unsympathetic at best, and others just think it’s a crap made up disease or that I am “playing the sick card” which I have never done in my entire life including when I was sick. I haven’t been able to work, I have now also confirmed permanent nerve damage and neuropathy and loss of sensation in all of my extremities and nothing I can do alleviates the pain. I was labeled by the state of New York as permanently disabled and issued a handicap sticker which people give me a death stare if they see me park in a handicap spot and get out and look healthy to them, when on the inside I am the antithesis of healthy.

I am always in pain, which makes me nauseous and I keep fluctuating a lot in weight and diet. I have recently been prescribed Medical marijuana in the state of New York, and even that provides very minimal relief. My entire life changed the day that I was diagnosed with each of these three terrors and people think it’s a joke when I tell them I have cancer of the blood and bone marrow and I have no tumors and didn’t lose my hair because I am not on chemotherapy although there have been discussions of me either starting Hydroxyurea (oral chemo) or Interferon alpha injections. The side effects will reap havoc on my stomach and I’m scared to start something that I may have to be on for the rest of my life.

For the first time in my life I understood mortality and had to set up a living will and medical proxy for all possible contingencies. I left my career in Miami and moved back home with my parents like I am a child. This diagnosis has caused a lot of tension and its prevented me from working, dating, keeping to a regimented schedule or be on time for appointments on many occasions. I have had days or weeks where I didn’t leave my bed other than to use the restroom. I feel like this small community needs to have more support, information, events, etc. actually just shot an email to the event coordinator for this foundation about maybe doing a poker tournament and cocktail party as a fundraiser and an awareness raising tool. If anyone has been diagnosed or has a loved one that has been diagnosed I am always willing to talk to them for as long as they want about whatever you want whenever you want. I know how difficult this is for anyone to deal with but we need to find ways to make the most of this miserable disease and pray for more donations and more research and better treatment options. I hope my story will help others and I will not give up on this if you guys don’t either. If anyone wants to reach out to me my email is BlakeSlade69@yahoo.com.

BLAKE IS RAISING MONEY FOR MPN RESEARCH.

HIS GOAL IS TO RAISE $20,000.

CLICK HERE TO HELP HIM REACH HIS GOAL!

UPDATE FROM BLAKE (January 2019): 

About 3 years have gone by since I wrote my testimonial. I am now 36 years old and there have been drastic changes in my life since I wrote my patient story. I now have very advanced Myelofibrosis which means all of my bone marrow has turned into scar tissue. My bones are stretching and tearing apart which is the most painful experience in the world. I am currently taking 175 MCG of fentanyl in the form of a patch which is like taking 1,000 mcg of morphine per hour. I walk with a cane for anything more than 50 steps away. I have been classified by the state of New York as permanently disabled and handicapped and have the official parking sticker to prove it. I am on medication to rebuild the strength in my bones, but so far no success. I had a minor fall in December 2017 which led to multiple surgeries to drill 7.5 inch pins and rods into my bones to find a location strong enough to hold the casing over my hip, turning my upper left leg into a terminator leg of all different types of metals. It took me 6 months to get out of bed and start doing physical therapy. I had to handicap my house, install a chair glide to go up and down my stairs since im on the second floor. I had to have a 57 foot zig-zag ramp at a super lite pitch to get up the 6 stairs outside the entrance to my house. It needed to be so long because no pitch is too big for me to slide down on a rainy snowy or icy day, and I need special gripping paint to prevent me from flying off the ramp in a wheel chair. I had to make changes to my bathroom so I can take showers sitting down holding onto a bar, just like I do when using the toilet. I even have to keep a very serious mountain man of a beard because I get skin lesions all over my body from the blood cancers I have and you never know how long they will last. They are very painful and it feels very abrasive when any part of your body is effected by this and I’ve pretty much had my entire body covered on several occasions for many months. Life is very hard with this condition and it feels like I’m on enough medication to tranquilize a great white shark or the infamous Megaladon 100 foot shark. But now I’m finally walking with a cane after 9 months of physical therapy.

We need to raise awareness for this group of blood and bone marrow cancers that nobody knows anything about. I went to a dozen oncologists before anyone knew anything about something that only has a few thousand active cases a year. We need tremendous financial grants which in order to find a cure, if not for me then for the next generation.

This is not a way to live a life for anyone at any age. I used to travel all over the world and my passport has more ink than I do on my body, if you can believe it. But all that travel has come to a halt. I am so scared to be away from the state of the art facility I go to – The Monter Cancer Center which have the greatest doctors ever and they keep me alive and try to give me the best quality of life. I beg of you all, please donate money to a cause to end this unnecessary suffering for people all over the world.

No donation is too small and I am more than happy to send any of my classic #TeamMrNice ™ #F*ck Cancer t-shirts to donors, which I am notorious for wearing almost every day. Please, we need your help to put an end to these cancers now. God bless you all for your help in this great cause. Remember, donations to the MPN Research Foundation are tax-deductible and funds go to a great cause. Join the long list of great people who have already been very generous to help me reach my goal!

CLICK HERE TO HELP BLAKE REACH HIS GOAL!