Words of Hope – Transplant!

Nov. 18th, 2008:

Today, I had a bone marrow transplant.  It would prove to be the solution for a very big problem, an Acute Leukemia diagnosis.   The road to the transplant was long and tricky.  For a time, it seemed like it never would happen.  The maladies of disease and treatment mounted and some of the road blocks could have seemed impassable.  All that said, the convergence of many miraculous things had happened and I was able to receive the transplant.  My malfunctioning liver problems had been identified, one donor was lost, but Isabel was found. The doctors at Hopkins had found a way to get me where I needed to be.

Around 9 am, in Germany, bone marrow was extracted from Isabel.  A courier from the Baltimore area took possession of the marrow and flew from Germany to Dulles Airport in DC.  The marrow traveled by car up I-95.  Around 7 or 8 pm the marrow arrived at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD and was prepped.  Around 9:20 pm on Nov. 18th, 2008, the bone marrow was  administered to me intravenously.  The process took about 2 hours.  A fairly benign procedure if it weren’t for the 8 days of extremely intensive chemo therapy that would wipe out my old bone marrow.   Fortunately for me this day had arrived.  When you live this experience you can understand why the odds are so stacked against leukemia patients.