New mom, 27, wife of IndyCar mechanic battling cancer Dana Hunsinger Benbow, dana.benbow@indystar.com

The chemotherapy coursing through her veins is brutal. One anti-nausea medication a day doesn'ttouch it so Caitlyn Goslee takes two. On a good day, theymight getrid of her gnawing sickness. Often, they don't.

Her 11-month-old daughter traipsingall over the house makes being sick right now both awful and wonderful.

Awful because her daughter has lived more than a third of her life with a mom battling cancer. She has spent days in a hospital bed, with her chubby cheeks and sweet smile and no clue of the fight her mom is in.

Wonderful because when Goslee gets throughall of this, her daughter will have been too young to remember any of it.

Caitlyn Goslee with her daughter, now 11 months old.(Photo: Provided by Caitlyn Goslee)

The 104.9 degree fever in July.

The diagnosis of sepsis. Ofinfluenza type A and influenza type B.

The day when what Goslee thought was astrain of the flu morphed into the diagnosis of aviciousblood cancer.

"I'm 27," she said Monday. "Things didn't add up."

The scary, unknown health issues started in July ata time in her life when Gosleeleast expected it.

She was young,healthy and had just had a baby girlin December. Goslee and IndyCar mechanic Brian Goslee who has worked for the series 18 years and is now with driver Jack Harvey were proud parents. In March, the couple was married.

By that summer, Goslee was a new mom, buttoning up onesies and changing diapers. She was a new wife andstarting a life as a stepmom to Brian Goslee's three children, a 9-year-old and 7-year-old twins.

Caitlyn Goslee is surrounded by her husband, Brian, baby girl and three stepchildren.(Photo: Provided by Caitlyn Goslee)

Goslee was busy and wrung out and she thought every bit of it was fabulous.

Then that bout with the "flu" hit. For six weeks between July and August, Goslee said doctors gave her different diagnoses. During thatsix-week period she was in and out of the hospital three times, 17 days in all.

The flu swab in her nose tested positive. Then she was told she was septic and, on top of that, had respiratory syncytial virus or RSV.

"All of that happened before they figured it out," she said. But then they studied her blood counts and it was those counts that gave the final, devastating clue.

Goslee had myelodysplastic syndromes, a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature or become healthy blood cells.

For apatient with MDS, the blood stem cells (immature cells) do not become mature red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets in the bone marrow, according to the National Cancer Institute. Theimmature blood cells, calledblasts, don'twork the way they should and either die in the bone marrow or soon after they go into the blood. Thatmeans less room for healthy white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets to form in the bone marrow.

"The only way to get a full remission is with a bone marrow transplant," Goslee said.

But first, Goslee has to get healthy enough for the transplant. Healthy enough means four rounds of chemotherapy. She has completed two and will start her third round next week.

Along the way, the Goslees have kept apositive attitude.

"For me, this is just a bump in the road," she said. "With the chemo and this transplant, it will be a memory; in five years we are going to look back on this. Of course, this isntthe bump anybody wants, but we stay positive for the kids."

Goslee will never forget the night she met her husband-to-be.In addition to working as a mechanic, he has a business turning old IndyCar gears into clocks.

Caitlyn Goslee wasputting on a fundraiser for Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health and had been texting Brian about donating one of his pieces to help. He said yes.

That night at the fundraiser attended by tons of people in the racing community ittook place during the Performance Racing Industry trade show she looked over and saw Brian.

Caitlyn and Brian Goslee with their four children.(Photo: Provided by Caitlyn Goslee)

"Who is that guy?" she asked a friend. Come to find out, it was the guy she'd been texting about donating his clocks.

"I think I kind of like him," Caitlyn Goslee remembers telling her friend. Thatlike turned into life. And now the two are fighting for hers together.

Goslee will have a biopsy in December to see if her cells are healthy enough the leukemic cells in her bone marrow need to be down to a certain level for a transplant. If so, the Goslees will have plenty of reason to celebrate both that and the first birthday of their baby girl.

The racing community, friends and family are helping Goslee in her fight with cancer. Gosleesays the insurance company will not pay for her chemotherapy, which is $38,000 a week.

To help, the public is invited to attend a fundraising event Monday, Nov. 11 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Speedway Indoor Karting,1067 N Main St, Speedway -- 50% of all money raised from karting will be donated, there will be live and silent auction items and a 50/50 raffle.

Several big-ticket items will be raffled off live at the event. For those who cannot attend, raffle tickets can be purchased online. The raffle will take place at 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online or in person until 8 p.m. Questions, contact Chris Wheeler at info@tntatsik.com.

Donate online toGoslee benefit: fundly.com/caitlyn-goslee-benefit

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter:@DanaBenbow. Reach her via e-mail: dbenbow@indystar.com.

See original here:
At 27 with a new baby, she thought she had the flu. It was blood cancer. - IndyStar

Comments are closed.