What does that feel like?

We left Massachusetts at 5am August 10^th to head to Wisconsin. After twelve hours of traveling west on interstate 90 we stopped for the night just short of the Indiana border. Friday morning we finished the trip, just over 1100 miles.  It’s a long drive but well worth the effort. I’m going to meet my bone marrow donor. Steve and I have been anxious to meet Kelly and thank her in person. It’s not possible to express the level of gratitude we feel, but we can at least buy her dinner.

It is odd. I owe so much to this young woman. Without a Bone Marrow Transplant, my Leukemia would have almost certainly returned. That would be curtains for me. I had Acute Myeloid Leukemia with the FLT genetic mutation. That genetic mutation means that my leukemia would not stay in remission with chemo alone. My best and statistically only chance was a successful transplant. If the match had been less than one hundred percent, I would probably have had significant rejection issues. I am in contact with people on the LLS community forums whose side effects are disabling. Leg swelling, skin disorders, intestinal, lung and liver issues to name a few. For some people life after transplant is a living hell, but life nonetheless. My recovery has been nothing short of miraculous. I’m nearly two years post-transplant and my complications are minimal and manageable.

Did you notice I said “had” acute myeloid leukemia? According to the medical professionals, I have AML that is in remission. They won’t consider me healed until the fifth anniversary of my transplant. I declared myself cured the day I got the transplant. That is my attitude. Leukemia is behind me. When I reached the summit of Kilimanjaro, I asserted my recovery from treatment and transplant as complete. Again, my doctor disagrees. I still drive into MGH every other month so they can draw blood, monitor my blood cell counts, check my general health and give me injections. In September, I get the final installment of my childhood immunizations. I hope the appointments will be quarterly soon. I’m not complaining. I am the lucky recipient of a 100 percent matching, unrelated, bone marrow transplant.

Which brings me back to Kelly, my donor. We met her and various members of her family Saturday night for dinner. I wanted to hear her side of the story. She tried to make it sound like not a big deal. She was in the college library when a donor drive was going on. Being the altruistic gal that she is she went ahead and filled out the paperwork and had her cheek swabbed. The chance that she would ever be called to donate was slight. Then it happened. The registry contacted her for further testing. Lo and behold, she was a perfect match! She flew to a Detroit hospital and spent a few hours in the operating room. The doctor pushed a coring/extraction tool into her pelvis and drew out marrow many times. She spent a night in Detroit and flew back to Wisconsin. She had swelling across her lower back for over a week. It sounds uncomfortable and inconvenient. I thought her marrow would be drawn at a local hospital. I didn’t realize she would need to travel. It would have been far easier to say no. Thank God, she said yes. No matter where life takes her she will always have the certain knowledge that she saved a life. What does that feel like?

Oh, by the way Kelly and her family are delightful people. They invited Steve and me over for a cook out Sunday, which happened to be my birthday. We chatted and laughed. They surprised me with homemade birthday cake and sang happy birthday. It was a perfect endnote until I meet my lifesaver again.