my story

On November 18, 2015, I became a man.

Well, not really. I have leukemia and I had a life-saving bone marrow transplant on that wonderful day. 

My donor was anonymous. All I know is that he is a 40-year-old man from Germany. My blood is 100 % donor. So if you tested my blood, it would show I am a man. If you tested my skin, however, it would show I am a woman. Amazing, right?

I was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in 2013. I was being treated with some Super Dangerous but Absolutely Necessary chemotherapy pills. I was to take them for the rest of my life. And they worked, for a while. Then I started having large bruises show up for no reason. I had night sweats so bad you’d think I wet the bed. A trip to the oncologist confirmed what we feared - the leukemia came back and it came back mad. I went into blast crisis and transitioned to acute myelogenous leukemia. I spent the summer of 2015 in the hospital taking several rounds of IV chemotherapy. I needed a bone marrow transplant, and I needed one fast. Without it, I only had about 3 months to live.

God had other plans.

As I was doing my part - staying in isolation in Riverside Hospital, wearing masks, getting IV chemotherapy every day, vomiting from the chemo. I think chemotherapy takes you as close to death as it can - without actually killing you.

My family, friends, and church moved into rapid-fire action. A bone marrow donor drive was coordinated with Be the Match. Chick-fil-A had a fundraiser to help with medical expenses. Our pool had a fundraiser to help with medical expenses. 

Mommies descended upon my family to help with meals, school supply shopping, rides to jobs, house cleaning. And this was no small feat - we are a family with 7 children. There was a lot to do.

And it all got done. Without me. As I lay in a hospital bed, waiting for the powers that be to find me a donor.

Usually, they look to siblings as the best donors. Well, I am adopted and have no siblings. But it didn’t matter because they found several 10 for 10 matches for me. Some people have to use a donor that is only a 5 for 10 match. Be the Match told me it could take months to find a suitable donor. I was scared. Some people die waiting for a donor. 

God had other plans.

My donor was found. He’s in Germany. Married. 40 years old. A perfect match.

We met with the transplant coordinator at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond to complete pre-transplant testing and to see if I qualified for a transplant.

Wait, what? I had to qualify for transplant. Apparently, hundreds apply to MCV for transplants every year. They only take 100. They had to turn people away.

I passed all my testing just fine. They tested my lungs, my heart, my psyche. 

We finally set a date for transplant. November 18, 2015. 

That was to be Day 0.

Day 0 is the day of transplant. The days leading up to it are counted as negative days. -14, -13, … -2, -1, etc. The days after transplant are counted as positive numbers. 1, 2, … 100, etc.

I checked into the hospital in Richmond. I was 90 minutes away from my family. 90 minutes away from the first day of school. 90 minutes away from taking our kids to college. 90 minutes away from my life.

I began the pre-transplant protocol. It was brutal. Just brutal. My immune system was completely killed. My white blood count dropped to zero. I couldn’t eat because I was vomiting. I’ve never felt so bad in my life. Some people suffer so much from the pre-transplant protocol that they never make it to transplant. They die trying.

God had other plans.

On Day 0, my husband, and the kids who could, came to Richmond to be with me. Around noon we got word that the donor cells were here. My nurse brought in the bag of lifesaving gold. We all put our hands on the bag of magic and prayed. We thanked God for this amazing, selfless donor, for the doctors and nurses that kept me alive and ready for transplant. 

Then the bag of gold was hung on my IV pole and hooked up to my port.

I watched it move down the IV tube and into my body and prayed the cells would go and find their place and set up camp and multiply. 

And they did. Like magic, things were happening.

By day 20 I was discharged from the hospital. But I am from Newport News. 90 minutes away from the hospital. The transplant team has a rule that patients live within 15 minutes of the hospital. 

So we checked into an extended stay hotel. I had to have a caregiver with me 24/7. This was such a hard time! It felt like things were spinning out of control. 

God had other plans.

Somehow, I had a caregiver with me, the kids were taken care of, the house was taken care of, everything just all came together.

I had to go to the transplant clinic every day for IV fluids and a vitals check, and to see the doctors. And I had to get my strength back and recover. It’s been a rough recovery

Mother’s Day weekend I finally got to go back home! If felt like it took forever to get here. 

I was in the hotel near Richmond for 6 months. I was still in the hospital for Thanksgiving but I spent Christmas in the hotel. 

I have reached my 2.5 year mark. There is no evidence of disease. None. I am ready to scream and jump up and down. My doctors say that if the cancer is going to come back it usually comes back in the first 3 years. 

Wow. I’m so excited. I can’t wait to see what God has planned.