Diagnosis and Treatment:
On February 20, I was diagnosed with a rare bone marrow cancer known as Myelodysplastic Syndrome with excess blasts 2 (MDS-EB2). There are fewer than 15,000 cases in the U.S. each year, and the median age at diagnosis is 76–it’s rare, and rarer for someone in his forties. Previous to the diagnosis, I had been feeling fatigued and weak for several months and had more and more difficulty climbing stairs. I had several blood tests, CT scans, a treadmill stress test and eventually a bone marrow biopsy, which is how they found the cancer. My blasts, immature cells in the blood, are at 15%. If they reach 20%, my disease converts to Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). The only potential cure is to have a full bone marrow transplant, and doctors can only do the transplant if my blasts are under 5%.
My first treatment, in late March, will be seven days of infusion of chemotherapy and a second medication in pill form for 14 days. While undergoing treatment, my doctors will be looking for a donor candidate, first focusing on my brother, because the best matches come from siblings. If my brother is not a match, then they will test cousins and/or look at the National Bone Marrow Registry. Once my blasts are below 5% and a donor is found, we can proceed to transplant.
Transplant and Recovery Process:
Once a transplant date is set, I will go into the hospital two weeks prior and get high doses of chemotherapy and radiation to obliterate the rest of my cells in my body. Then, I will be given the donor cells and be watched closely for engraftment over the next two weeks. If that is progressing well, I can be discharged, but I must stay within 50 miles of the hospital for weekly checkups and monitoring, in a location that has a kitchen. Since my immunity will be non-existent, I will not be able to return home. I will also require a care person 24/7 for the next four to six weeks, until my doctors feel it's safe for me to return home. My kids will not be able to visit me during these three months due to my immune system being compromised, and I will likely miss the birth of my third child, a daughter due in June.
About My Family and Our Special Challenges:
I was born and raised in Oroville, California, and I graduated from high school in 2000. I began working at a local hospital at age 16, and that is where I met the love of my life, Mary, in 2003. We both went on to college to pursue our dreams, and I graduated in 2007 with my x ray technologist license. I eventually obtained my CT license and cross-trained into MRI, where I currently work as a Lead Technologist.
Mary and I were married in July 2009 and began trying to start a family. After many years of being unsuccessful, we were tested for reproductive causes, but none were found, so we were in that 1% of unexplained infertility. We sought help in starting our family, and after many more failures and heartbreaks, we finally got pregnant in 2018. When Mary was eight months pregnant, the nation's deadliest fire, the Camp Fire, ripped through Paradise and destroyed my workplace and the hospital where we had planned to deliver our son, Feather River Hospital.
The community quickly rallied, and we were able to deliver our first healthy son, Watson, on Christmas Eve at Enloe Medical Center, another local hospital. Two years later, we were surprised with another pregnancy and welcomed our second son, Lincoln, who was born en caul (delivered in his amniotic sac). My wife is currently pregnant with our baby girl, who is due in June. To add to the heartache of not being with my family, I will be unable to support my mother with her recent diagnosis of stage three colon cancer in February of 2024. She has undergone surgery and will begin chemo the same week as me.
I have been blessed in many ways in my life, but nothing compares to the outpouring support of friends, family, and coworkers during the most difficult journey I will take in my life. I could not do it without knowing that Mary and my children will have the support that I am unable to provide myself during this intensely challenging season of our lives. Thank you for your prayers, support, kind words, and love.