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Day 557: It's been a while

Well the past 337 days have been relatively uneventful, until today where the next step in my journey begins with a chance that this will be the last big step.  

But first a bit of catch up on these past 337 days...

Since returning home to Colorado in late February 2021, I've been feeling well, returned to work and able to live a relatively normal life.  I say relatively since my immunocompromised state has me living with the added anxiety of getting sick from Covid or any other infection.  

I returned to MD Anderson on February 15, 2022 for my 15 month post-transplant check up.  The results were great, with no sign of the cancer returning and my chimerism results showing >95% of the cells being from my donor.  This is a great indication since my original cells create the cancer whereas my donor cells do not.  

The tricky part is that while the cancer has not returned, my full immune system recovery has not returned either.  This makes me highly susceptible to catch an infection and potentially very difficult to recover.  This came true in March 2022 when I developed pneumonia which put me immediately in the hospital for 5 days of IV antibiotics.  Fortunately I made a quick and full recovery.

The diagnosis was that while I had a successful stem cell graft, it was too small to result in a full immune system recovery.  The explanation was that I would make a full recovery eventually, but no one could predict when that day would come - this year, next year, 30 years or longer.  Given this and my recent infection, I was offered an opportunity in what is referred to as a "boost" - a subsequent stem cell infusion.

This is where my hero, my donor, Eric, came back to the rescue yet again.  As I write this note, Eric is sitting in a hospital bed, in Chicago, donating the additional stem cells that I will have infused on June 29th.  Needless to say I am forever thankful to Eric and extremely excited for the prospect of this being the final step in what will be a very successful stem cell transplant and cure to cancer.

Love you all,

Gary

Eric during the stem cell donation process (apheresis)

Eric after donation with the goods :)


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