February 29th, 2024

VENETA MAN SEEKS HELP IN PROVIDING AILING WIFE A NEW HOME
By
Helen M. Davis
 
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     Barbie and Ken Wallstrom have enjoyed being able to give back to the community whether it be running a small restaurant for the Country Fair crowd or through the lessons Barbie once gave to children to impart her love for and knowledge of horses. If there was a need, they were willing to address it. Now, they are asking for help from others.
     Things for the Wahlstrom’s began to take a turn for the worse in 2005 when Barbie was t-boned after another driver ran a red light at Barger Street and Beltline Road in Eugene. The collision left her with damage to her cervical and lumbar spine which rendered her incapacitated. The insurance money that was awarded by the company of the other driver didn’t go far as it was split three ways between the Wallstrom’s, their attorney, and their insurance company, but it was enough to just get by.
     Then, Ken was injured on the job in 2016 after falling ten feet from a ladder. Surgery repaired his torn pectoral muscles and his damaged rotator cuff, but he, too, was left disabled and limited in what he can now do. Still, they persevered and went about their lives despite the chronic pain they were both left with. Barbie had her horses, which brought her great joy and Ken had his various projects.
     Things took another turn, in June of 2022, when Barbie went to the doctor after suffering from bruising and extreme fatigue. Her physician took one look and ordered her to go to the emergency room at Riverbend. After a wait of 12 hours, during which Barbie was in extreme pain due to her issues with her spine, a blood test was ordered and came back positive for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.
     For the uninitiated, ALL is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. The word acute stems from the disease’s rapid progression as it creates immature blood cells rather than ones that are mature. Lymphocytic leukemia refers to white blood cells known as lymphocytes, which the disease affects.
     Barbie was admitted to Riverbend where she stayed for five days until being transferred to Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. Once released from there, the Wallstrom’s stayed at the Rood House, which Ken likens to a Ronald McDonald house for adults, for another 100 days while Barbie had the necessary treatments. In October, she readied for a bone marrow transplant by having her immune system done away with to lessen the likelihood of Graft vs. Host Disease, which occurs when donated stem cells received during an allogenic (from a donor) transplant view the patient’s body as a threat and wage an attack.
     In November, Barbie returned to OHSU and had her transplant after a donor was found in San Diego. Not only was this an act of providence, but in further testament to the existence of miracles, the donor was a match in all twelve points. Typically, doctors seek an 8–10-point match.
     Afterwards, the Wallstrom’s stayed in the Rood House for another 100 days while Barbie had 2-3 check-ups a week and received necessary fluids. On February 7th, the Wallstrom’s returned to their 40-acre farm on Suttle Road. At 1:00 a.m. the following morning, daughter Kaliegh Wallstrom, 25, called Ken at the trailer where he was staying to protect Barbie’s non-existent immune system and informed him the house was on fire. Lane Fire responded, and fought the blaze until 2:00 p.m. the next afternoon, but the house was lost, a result, it was later determined, of a faulty socket. Seven cats perished in the blaze and the Wallstrom’s were left with nothing.
     Needing some sort of shelter for Barbie and Kaleigh, Ken brought in a 5th-wheel that they are temporarily calling home while he does his best not to endanger Barbie while she is still so compromised. She has gone into remission thanks to the transplant, but she is struggling with acute Graft vs. Host Disease, and it is necessary for her to take medication that costs a whopping $40,000 a month, a price that OHP initially balked at until Barbie’s doctors got involved.
     Ken wants very much to rebuild so Barbie, to whom he has been wed for 40 years, can have a decent roof over her head in what could be her final days, but with finances so depleted and with his own disability this hasn’t been at all easy. Blueprints have been drawn up and revised and Ken has plans to cut trees on the property down and have them milled for the house to save costs, but they need help, and he has begun a GoFundMe in hopes of obtaining donations of either money, materials, or assistance. He hopes to do as much of it himself as his own health allows, save for the foundation, to keep expenses down.
      He’s hopeful that someone will respond and there have been a few, but help is still needed to give Barbie the home he wants her to have for whatever time God is giving her. Flyers have been left at Caris Pharmacy and at The Farm Store among other places and Ken wants people to know that in this time of rampant scams, this is not fake, the need is real. Whatever funds are left over from donations will be, in turn, donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Barbie’s name.
     We never know what is in our future and things can change in the blink of an eye as has been demonstrated time and again. It is our hope that in our time of need people will respond in a kind and compassionate manner and that someday, somehow, we can “pay it forward.”  Ken is hoping for the same thing. All he wants is for the woman he has loved for so long to be comfortable in whatever time she has left, and he is hoping and praying that those in the community and even beyond, can help to make this happen.
 
 
 

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