The post was not added to the feed. Please check your privacy settings.
Nothing has been posted here yet - be the first!
Info
Personal Information
First Name
Pamela
Birthday
July 20, 1974
Gender
Female
Relationship Status
In Relationship
City
Columbia
State
SOUTH CAROLINA
Zip
29212
Riding Info
Type of Rider (Passenger)
Weekend Warrior
Ride My Own Bike
No
Rallys & Biker Events
Local & Regional Events
General Info
Occupation
Investment Advisor/Financial Planner
Message
Going through AML with my brother was very difficult for my family.
Acute Myeloid Leukemia is a cancer that starts in the bone marrow and quickly spreads to the blood. “Acute” means that this leukemia can progress quickly if not treated. Jimmy went to the emergency room one day and the next we were discussing chemotherapy. There are not any tests for early detection. In addition, the symptoms are fairly common and can go unrecognized in adults. The week prior to being diagnosed, he was out with friends and he thought he was coming down with the flu.
We had no idea.
He went through treatment and was considered in remission. We felt so relieved! But the cancer came back, and it was back to chemotherapy. He was considered in remission again, and the cancer came back a third time.
We experienced the anger and disbelief that too many families have faced on the roller coaster of remission and treatment.
At that point, his best option was to do an allogenic stem transplant. This involved eradicating all of his bone marrow and transplanting healthy stem cells from a donor who had close HLA markers. It is a high risk procedure and requires a “match” usually of 6 or 7 of the same HLA blood markers. Unfortunately, there is only a 10% chance of finding a match for minorities. Multi-racial people face the worse odds. He was fortunate in that a match was found that had 6 of his same HLA markers, but the match fell through.
My brother was, statistically, facing death.
The closest was my sister who had 5 of his same HLA markers. We decided to participate in an “experimental” transplant. Jimmy beat what felt like unsurmountable odds, contracting graft versus host disease after the transplant, pneumonia, not having a good HLA match and surviving for what is now 4 years! A large number of patients, with good matches, don’t survive after the first year.
The transplant was successful.
Out of the 5 other patients who went through the same procedure when he did. He is the only one still living.
The confusion, worry, sadness, hopefulness followed by despair, I don’t want anyone to have to go through that.
My brother will have hit his 5 year mark next year! In thankfulness and celebration of life, team LIVE is committed to helping fight cancer. Thank you for joining in the effort and supporting Team LIVE to reach our goal over raising over $50,000 for LLS! If we reach this mark, Jimmy can decide which specific research project the raised funds support!
With Love and Gratitude, Pamela
Tickets can be purchased by using the link on the flyers
http://whoozin.com/pokerrun
Or you can donate directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. http://www.mwoy.org/pages/sc/midlands17/pbrubaker
