Donna Ruhle

My name is Donna Ruhle and, on Oct. 13, 2010, I went to get labs done prior to rotator cuff surgery. The technicians thought there was a mistake in the results so I had to repeat the labs. Then I was told that I couldn’t have surgery … I had leukemia. After all the blood work and bone marrow testing, it was confirmed that I had Chronic Myeloid Leukemia PH +. After months of trying different medicines, things calmed down. I was devastated, not for myself, but for my mom. Two weeks prior to my diagnosis, we found out my mom had lung cancer and it was small cell, so it was growing fast! So, with my family learning how to deal with my mom’s cancer, how would I tell them about myself? I was so scared. We all turned our energy into helping my mom. On July 19, 2011, we lost our mom. Thankfully, my family is very supportive of each other, and we’ve all pushed forward.

I lost my husband, Philip Ruhle, in a very tragic commercial fishing boat accident on July 23, 2008. I was so devastated. Previously, I lost my dad to Alzheimer’s in Oct. 31, 2007. I do have 2 sons, Roger and Phil Jr and a daughter, Alicia. Thank goodness, they all keep me going. I am so thankful for everyone’s help and support and all their love.