Nancy has worked with hundreds of patients in her career, guiding patients through decision-making and treatment. Discover her best advice for bone marrow failure patients and caregivers in this podcast.
Patrice banned "stinkin' thinkin'" from her mind as she began treatment for aplastic anemia. Later, she'd continue that practice during her bone marrow transplant, so she began not just surviving, but thriving! Listen to her story here.
Listen to Duane's story, leading to his 2009 transplant, and continuing survivorship!
"Three hours after they drew my blood, my doctor called to tell me to go immediately to the emergency room!" Because Kirollos was a pharmacy student, he understood that having such low blood counts needed fast treatment, but he was still surprised. Discover how he progressed from diagnosis to transplant to survivorship quickly here.
"Never give up!" That's Brandi's advice to patients. Her diagnosis was months in coming, and then more time to find the best allogenic donor for her transplant---over 19 months in the hospital between diagnosis and successful transplant.
34-year-old Krissy Kobata is a passionate patient and advocate/activist. Diagnosed in 2008 with MDS, she’s the epitome of resilience as she has waited for years to find a matched donor. She has devoted this time to helping other patients by enlarging the Be The Match® bone marrow registry.
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.
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).
In June 2011, my daughter Gabby was seven, and we had just relocated from Las Vegas to Reno, Nevada. She seemed tired and had alarming bruises on her shins. She also had a persistent ear infection and I noticed red dots (petechiae) on her shoulders.