Luck seems to play a role in determining who survives leukemia and who doesn't. It's a bad-luck disease for sure. Relatively rare, and except for exposure to benzene or excessive radiation, its causes are unclear. The survival rate for adult leukemia is discouraging, although it's better than for some other diseases. The treatment is harsh and sometimes fatal. You can be "cured" of leukemia and expire from the side effects.
I've been ruminating about why some people survive leukemia and others (more) don't. Sometimes it's the aggressiveness of the disease. Sometimes it's geography. Sometimes it comes down to a single microbe. My leukemia responded well to chemotherapy. I live in an area with easy access to excellent treatment facilities and top doctors. I somehow dodged the germs that might have erased all my other "lucky" circumstances.
Pardon my negativity. I've witnessed far too many valiant fights where leukemia has been the victor. There are successes, to be sure. I'm one of them, for now at least. I hope my luck holds, that my retrofitted immune system continues to search and destroy lurking mutant clones.
There's no time for hand-wringing though. You can up the odds for someone battling leukemia by giving blood, becoming a bone marrow/stem cell donor, donating money to groups fighting for a cure.
This is your lucky day.
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Adirondack Mountains, Feb. 2007
Tale of a Cord Blood Transplantee Who Relapses and Goes on to Have a Matched Unrelated-Donor Transplant
The Weight
Adirondack Mountains, Feb. 2007
ABOUT ME
In March 2006, I was diagnosed with a blood cancer called Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Life as I knew it came to a crashing halt. After enduring a month in the hospital where I received intense chemotherapy, I was declared "in remission." I had three additional treatments and remained cancer-free until May 2007, when I relapsed.
My only shot at survival was to have a stem cell transplant. However, my brothers' immune markers didn't match mine, and an international search of bone marrow registries found no perfect matches. A transplant using the blood from two umbilical cords was recommended. I grasped at this straw in September 2007. It seemed to work.
This blog tells the story of my transplant and recovery, replete with outrageous slings and arrows. The expression "blood is thicker than water" has new meaning for me. I remained alive due to the blood of strangers, two of them, both male. Thanks guys.
The plot thickened when I relapsed 19 months into my new remission and had to go through the same rigamarole once more. This time, I received stem cells from a matched adult donor who was identified last go round but didn't fit into the necessary time frame. Charles Dickens could have fun with this, the stuff of pulp fiction.
I remain in remission 4 years later. My donor keeps leukemic cells in check but finds interesting ways to attack my body. Chronic graft versus host disease keeps me firmly entrenched in the medical world. And so it goes.
My only shot at survival was to have a stem cell transplant. However, my brothers' immune markers didn't match mine, and an international search of bone marrow registries found no perfect matches. A transplant using the blood from two umbilical cords was recommended. I grasped at this straw in September 2007. It seemed to work.
This blog tells the story of my transplant and recovery, replete with outrageous slings and arrows. The expression "blood is thicker than water" has new meaning for me. I remained alive due to the blood of strangers, two of them, both male. Thanks guys.
The plot thickened when I relapsed 19 months into my new remission and had to go through the same rigamarole once more. This time, I received stem cells from a matched adult donor who was identified last go round but didn't fit into the necessary time frame. Charles Dickens could have fun with this, the stuff of pulp fiction.
I remain in remission 4 years later. My donor keeps leukemic cells in check but finds interesting ways to attack my body. Chronic graft versus host disease keeps me firmly entrenched in the medical world. And so it goes.
3 comments:
Perfect post. I agree with you completely. You just have a way of saying it far more eloquently and directly.
You are doing great and offer so much hope for all of us a little behind you.
xo-Lea
Agree with Lea ... You can't say it any better than this. Thanks for venting. I feel better.
Hi,
I'm an 18-yr survivor of indolent lymphoma, in and out of treatment. I wrote the following article for healthcare professionals about the problem of death being equated with losing (and meaning the cancer won):
http://tinyurl.com/cvoeuu
I also wrote an article on the role of luck in survivorship:
http://tinyurl.com/c4hwsg
I hope you find them useful.
(If the links don't work, you can get to them via my blog/website)
With hope,
Wendy
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