$14,295.00

Like many cancer journeys, it begins with the phone call you're not expecting.  Mike Reinhardt's call came on December 30, 2022 -- it was a beautiful sunny day -- nearly 60 degrees. Mike went for routine blood work that turned out not to be too routine.  He was fortunate to be directly admitted to the Wilmot Cancer Center that night, and thus began the pathway to a cure for Acute Myeloid Leukemia. His first inpatient stay lasted 30 DAYS, followed by two more, and shorter admissions. Currently, Mike is just about 155 days into his diagnosis, and 55 days post transplant (but who is counting).  It's amazing to see him recover and rediscover living a new normal life!

You can read more about Mike's journey below, and why we are so darn fortunate to have the Wilmot Cancer Institute in our backyard!  That's why Mike and Germaine are asking you to join the DocMikeRocs team and help us raise at least $5,000 to support and further Wilmot's work to find cancer cures and provide state-of-the-art treatment to patients like Mike! 

Mike's Journey at Wilmot Cancer Institute 

Make no mistake, those early days were scary.  The one thing that provided so much comfort was to know that Wilmot Cancer Institute contained a nationally respected cancer center, with well-known and well-researched experts in blood cancers and transplants.  We know this because we did the research, both with friends at the Medical Center, and friends around the country -- notably a leukemia expert out of the world renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.  He said this:  "the most important thing in successful treatment of cancer is to be in a good place, with good docs.  You've got both right there in Rochester."

Not only did we have good docs, we had great, dedicated docs -- Mike's main attending physcian, Dr. Jane Liesveld, was there early in the morning, late at night and was available for consultations whenever we had questions.  Dr. Paul Barr, the doc who came in on New Years Eve to break the "you have cancer" news was so incredibly kind and empathetic.  And Dr. Jason Mendler was beloved for being the doctor who  advocated for a discharge after 30 days of being in the hospital.  

As good as the docs were, dare we say the nurses on WCC6 were even better.  We had the Best. Nurses. Possible.  Be kind to nurses everywhere -- they work really hard.  And fabulous assistants.  It was an unbelievable experience.  And when Mike moved to the outpatient setting, just ask Mike about the snack cart that comes around as he is receiving a transfusion:)!

We tell you all this to to underscore how damn lucky we are in Rochester to have the Wilmot Cancer Institute (WCI).  To be just 10- or 20-minutes away from receiving care from an Institute with top docs, top researchers, state-of-the art facilities, a transplant team -- the list goes on and on -- is unbelievable.  Until you're in it, it's hard to understand just how fortunate we are.  

And while I hope all of you never have to experience WCC firsthand, I do hope you'll join me and Mike in supporting WCI so they continue to create new life saving treatments and cures for cancer patients in New York and around the world.

Thanks for joining and supporting this team, and let’s leave cancer in the dust.

 #WilmotWarrior #DocMikeRocs