JOINT VENTURE
WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHERTHE STEM CELL TRANSPLANT PROCESS
My name is Cynthia Powers. This blog is about my husband Guy and his battle with Leukemia. In 2004 Guy was diagnosis with Mylophybrosis, a rear form of blood cancer that advanced into AML which is a very rapid Leukemia. He was given two weeks to live and sent to Metro City Cancer Center for an adult stem cell transplant. This resulted in a ten month hospital stay.
(1) Guy was given strong Chemo in an IV for several days to completely clean out his bone marrow of diseased stem cells. (The stem cells in your bone marrow have the job to make your blood.)
(2) At the same time a global search was working to find the closest DNA match to be his adult stem cell donor. Once the best donor match is located his stem cells must be harvested and sent from around the globe if necessary to Metro City Cancer Center.
(3) When Guy's bone marrow is clean and ready for the transplant the donor cells need to be on hand and ready to be transplanted into Guy.
(4) The transplant itself is almost a non event. The donor stem cells are put in an IV bag and injected into Guy's blood stream, just like a blood transfusion. The stem cells look like a bag of banana pudding, thick, a bit lumpy and butter yellow. A bag of pure gold for sure.
This story is our experience with Leukemia and the stem cell transplant process. Maybe this will ease the anxiety for someone facing the same. Only the names have been changed to protect our privacy. This was a Joint Venture and we were in to win.
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