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Patient Story |
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allen Perry Vollen Burlingame, CA United States male Living with AML for 8 years, 6 months Age: 71 I was diagnosed with AML in early January of 2002. I spent a month in the hospital with the induction round of chemo and went into remission. Three additional stays in the hospital where I fought infections that had occurred during my chemotherapy treatment followed this. During my chemo treatment, we had also been searching the national registry of five million donors for a bone marrow transplant match without much success. We requested expanding the search to a number of international registries and, lo and behold, we found a match in Israel. He was one out of an estimated eight million registered donor’s worldwide. It was just another miracle. The man providing me with “the gift of life” wrote me an unsigned note. He is a dairy farmer, who loves to swim and dance the salsa, and I could feel his generosity and unselfishness when he wished me a full and speedy recovery. Currently, I am 14 months post transplant process and so far, the docs tell me that I am doing quite well. I have been very lucky. I believe that I am still here because of the network of support that has surrounded and encouraged me. As the MasterCard commercial says “it’s priceless”. Four months ago, I had open-heart surgery to replace an aortic value that became clogged due to the chemo. I had received. There are so many stories to tell and miracles to relate and I only have room for one - the one most poignant to me. I wrote an e-mail to ten friends and relatives before starting the first chemo: Ok, here is the drill. Every day or as appropriate, from now until I’m out of the woods, find a quiet moment by yourself or even better with your loved one(s). Hold each other in a circle; close your eyes; feel the love rise and generate. Feel the love for me, love for whom you are, and particularly love for those so close to you. Now send that energy to me. No need for effort just let the healing flow. You may save my life. Thanks to the Internet, that message whirled around the world. It was stuffed into the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, became part of sermons, and even reached into Tibet. I received loving and encouraging replies from people I have never met. I firmly believe that I have gotten this far and will go all the way because of the love that is out there for me. In addition, whether you know it or not, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training was part of that. Also, acts of loving and giving to individuals yet unknown- much like my dairy farmer freely and openly gave his stem cells to someone unknown. |
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