On April 23, 2011 it will be one year since I was diagnosed with AML leukemia. I try to bury the memories of the pain and helplessness that I felt at the time. I am now in remission and considered cured. I endured six months of Chemotherapy and almost three months as an inpatient at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. My journey would have been so much harder and lonelier if it were not for my fellow crew members at Trader Joe's.
In the first days at the hospital it became clear that I would not be able to eat the food served by the hospital. I called my captain Gordon at Trader Joe's and tearfully told him of my situation, he then had another crew member take a list of things I needed. Within a few hours long time crew member Hope had arrived with two full bags of groceries and a case of bottled water. Gordon refused to take payment and I was finally able to get some real nourishment after five days of eating almost nothing. The next day crew member Bonnie came with her partner Teresa and delivered a small microwave and table for my room. Since the hospital provided me with a refrigerator I was now able to make simple, nourishing food for myself . Over the next forty days of my first admission crew members took turns visiting me and bringing me food that they had made for me. The food and the visits kept my spirits up and was a great factor in my recovery.
Over the course of my treatment I received dozens of transfusions of both blood and platelets, It takes an average of 124 donors to treat one person with AML leukemia. Inspired by my situation and the awareness it brought of the importance of donating blood the crew organized a blood drive and had close to 40 donors participate.
I was doing some Spring cleaning the other day and came across two gift bags stuffed with dozens of cards and letters of encouragement most of which came from the crew at TJ's.
I will be forever grateful to my friends at Trader Joe's. They really treated me like family and were always there for me when I needed them.
