This is a story about Tony's year long battle with Leukemia and the Stem Cell Transplant that could potentially save his life.
 |
Bev Joined: May-20-2009 |
Background Story
Welcome to my journal! Where do I begin......a little about me? I am a husband to a wonderful woman, Doris, a father to two beautiful daughters Kim and Eranne but most importantly a "pops" to Lindsay and Emma. I love to hunt most anything that moves. I'm looking forward to having my stem cell transplant so I can get back to the things I love! Please keep me, my donor, my doctors and my family in your thoughts and prayers!
Here's a little history on why I'm having a stem cell transplant. I have a type of leukemia called CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia). I was diagnosed with CLL in 1997. It was dormant until 2006 when I took my first series of chemotherapy, then another round in 2008 ending in February. Since then my doctors have been researching the possibility for me to have a stem cell transplant.
The type of transplant I will have is called allogeneic which means I will use someone besides family members (an unrelated donor) stem cells. The only family member that was tested was Ricky my brother and he was not a match, so the search began to find a donor that matched me 100%. Thankfully a match was found! I'm not sure who this gift from God is, all we know about the donor is that he is male and 21 years old! I can not have any contact with him for at least one year. My transplant day is August 27th! That just about wraps up a little history about me and the reason I am here. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughts and prayers. Having such wonderful friends and family help make my healing process much easier.
