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Aplastic Anemia and Treatment-Related Complications Influence Career Choice

Person's Name: 
Bridget Daw

In December 1992, I was an 8-year-old, halfway through second grade, when strep throat and a urinary tract infection just wouldn’t go away. A late-night trip to the emergency room revealed dangerously low levels of platelets, which explained this and the severe bruising all over my body and rashes on my joints. My platelets were under 2,000 and I was supposed to have 250,000.

Bone Marrow Disease(s): 
Content source: 
eBulletin / eInsider (story of hope)

Patient Trusts Her Instincts in Finding the Right Treatment

Person's Name: 
Sherry Pratt

I never thought I would be diagnosed with cancer. I taught exercise classes, walked every day, ate a Mediterranean diet, and paid attention to products I used on my skin.  I became a certified health coach and taught healthy living classes.  

Bone Marrow Disease(s): 
Content source: 
eBulletin / eInsider (story of hope)

I Was Alone With MDS Until I Connected With Others on Social Media

Person's Name: 
Jane Biehl, PhD

I sat quietly in the oncologist’s office. The doctor confirmed that my diagnosis was MDS and calmly stated, “The average survival term for your kind of MDS is 104 months.” I felt the room spin.

 

I never have been healthy, and suffered from upper respiratory infections all my life. Kidney and bladder infections plagued me all through college, and I have had a severe hearing loss since birth. I had been diagnosed in 1986 with an IGA deficiency, meaning that I had insufficient immunity although I was treated symptomatically with antibiotics when needed.

 

Bone Marrow Disease(s): 
Content source: 
eBulletin / eInsider (story of hope)

My Encounter with Aplastic Anemia

Person's Name: 
Jill Minden

In 2007, when I was 25 years old, I started to get winded going up a flight of stairs. I also began having two hour long nosebleeds, and I knew something was wrong. I had my bloodwork checked and shortly after my doctor told me to go to the hospital right away because my blood counts were extremely low. I had no idea what that meant at the time, and wasn’t overly alarmed.

Bone Marrow Disease(s): 
Content source: 
eBulletin / eInsider (story of hope)

Alaskan Goes Home for Treatment and a Fresh Start

Person's Name: 
Shauna McMillan

I tell people I'm unique - almost one of a kind. I am 40 years old and have recently been diagnosed with a rare type of MDS having an unusual deletion 12q cytogenetic abnormality, known MDS 12q (-), or MDS 12q minus.  I was diagnosed in February of 2015 at age 38, however my health struggles began several years before that. I had been living in Alaska for nearly twenty-five years. In 2008, I was diagnosed with lymphocytic colitis (also a rare disease for someone of my age).

Bone Marrow Disease(s): 
Content source: 
web exclusive

Katherine Calvo, MD, PhD

Calvo, Katherine
Chief, Hematology Service
National Institutes of Health

Dr. Katherine Calvo is a hematopathologist and researcher in the Hematology Section Clinical Center’s Department of Laboratory Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Calvo graduated from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and completed a fellowship and residency at National Institutes of Health. In collaboration with Dr. Steven Holland in the National Institute for Allergy and Infection Diseases and Dr.

Online Profile: 
https://www.cc.nih.gov/meet-our-doctors/kcalvo