Lives
put on hold
Nikki
Nash is undergoing an extensive chemotherapy program to combat acute
lymphoblastic leukemia, normally only present in children with a peak incidence
at age three.
The
Nashes, Nelson and Nikki, 22, face the financial,
emotional and very physical challenge of treating Nikki’s illness. They were
married on Nov. 16, 2007, in San Diego, and Nikki was diagnosed four months
after their marriage, which forced them both to pull out of Brigham Young
University in Rexsburg, Idaho, and move into Ronald
McDonald House in Salt Lake City while she undergoes treatment for the rare
disease.
Nelson
is the son of Laura and Kenneth Nash, a local dentist and bishop of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has two brothers, Stanford and
Chandler, and two sisters, Chelsea and Eliza. Nelson also is active in the
Mormon church and served a two-year mission in New
Hampshire.
Nikki
was two semesters away from a degree in health science. As part of earning her
degree, Nikki was working in a rehabilitation hospital in Rexburg. She went
into the hospital to have a bulge in her spine examined and removed, and
instead was diagnosed with childhood leukemia, even though she is an adult. The
bulge in her spine has taken a back burner to the more threatening disease of
leukemia, and she has suffered with bad reactions to her chemotherapy, and lost
her hair and muscle mass. She has required special, more extensive treatment
because the form of her cancer is so rare in adults, the couple said.
“Her
spleen and her liver were so distended that they fractured two of her ribs,”
Nelson said. Originally, the doctors thought this was caused by the bulge in her
spine, but later discovered that the organs were grossly enlarged because she
was so sick internally from the cancer.
The
good news, if any, is that according to the National Institute of Cancer, 60 to
80 percent of adults with the disease can be expected to attain complete
remission status following appropriate induction therapy.
Longtime
family friend Karen Jones and her husband Rob, of Santa Ynez, are putting
together several fundraisers to help the couple with their expenses.
“Nikki
and Nelson are the coolest young couple I know,” said Karen. “They were married
last November, only to discover a few months later that Nikki had acute
lymphoblastic leukemia. They both had to drop out of college and quit their
jobs to devote all their time and attention to fight this extremely serious and
life threatening disease,” writes Karen in a blog on the family website, http://syvjonesfamily.com.
“I
met him when he was in sixth grade, and I have watched Nelson grow up, from a
regular guy, kind of a jock, into a great husband and great caregiver, head and
shoulders above his peers. He even said to his mother, Lauren, that he was so
glad that Nikki was diagnosed with cancer after they got married, because
otherwise she never would have married him,” said Jones. “I decided to ask for
help for them, because these are not the kind of people that advertise their
problems.”
Those
who know the Joneses know that Karen promotes musicians and friends, and hosts
jams for musicians at their home on Edison Street in Santa Ynez. Many folks
came to the “band-jam” at their home on Old Santa Ynez Day and may have heard a
performance by Elizabethan Report, a Provo, Utah, band that puts on a raucous
act. Elizabethan Report has offered to perform at SOhO
Nightclub in Santa Barbara on Oct. 2 at 8 p.m., to benefit Nikki and Nelson. SOhO is located at 1221 State Street in Santa Barbara, and
is a dinner theater. Phone (805) 962-7776 for reservations.
The second fundraiser planned is a family-style picnic on
Oct. 4. Jones can be telephoned at (805) 688-7786 or contact the Jones’
website, http://www.syvjoneshouse.com. To write to the couple directly, send
cards or letters to: Nikki and Nelson Nash, 328 White Oak Road, Santa Ynez, CA
93460.