What began as incessant itching six years in the past led to a prognosis of continual myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) for Seymour Goldstein.
“I used to be having a shower throughout a visit to Paris and skilled this infamous itching. I assumed it was the laborious water in France,” Seymour remembers.
After visiting a physician in Austin, he was identified with thrombocythemia. This situation causes the physique to make too many platelets within the bone marrow, doubtlessly inflicting blood clots, bleeding, bruising and normal weak point.
An oncologist and hematologist in Austin did a bone marrow biopsy, confirming Seymour’s suspicion that the underlying prognosis was most cancers, particularly CMML.
“As quickly as I knew it was most cancers, I contacted MD Anderson,” Seymour says.
CMML prognosis requires blood donations
CMML is an unusual sort of blood most cancers characterised by excessive numbers of white blood cells within the blood and bone marrow. CMML causes low counts of wholesome blood cells and excessive counts of diseased monocytes, a sort of white blood cell that helps different immune system cells combat an infection. It’s additional categorized as a cancerous illness known as myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm, a newly created time period for a prognosis exhibiting options of each myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and myeloproliferative neoplasm. On this group of ailments, the bone marrow merely doesn’t produce sufficient wholesome, mature cells.
Seymour remained largely asymptomatic till the spring of 2023, although he was identified with CMML in 2018. Between 2018 and 2023, he underwent common bone marrow aspirations and biopsies to observe the situation of his bone marrow and blood cells. When his white blood cell counts started dropping in 2023, leukemia specialist Guillermo Garcia-Manero, M.D., Ph. D., advisable an allogeneic stem cell transplant. Step one was eliminating as many most cancers cells as doable by way of a course of known as induction remedy, adopted by chemotherapy.
This meant Seymour, like different leukemia sufferers, grew to become depending on blood transfusions throughout his therapy.
Sufferers with blood cancers typically require blood transfusions to not deal with the most cancers itself, however to supply wholesome blood cells when the physique doesn’t produce its personal. These wholesome cells will help to alleviate unwanted side effects from therapy like chemotherapy. In addition they assist stop an infection, bruising, bleeding and anemia.
Seymour had almost 40 blood transfusions between April and August 2023.
Grateful for MD Anderson Blood Financial institution
“I used to be utterly depending on blood,” he explains. “With out these transfusions, there would’ve been no therapy or transplant doable in my case.”
MD Anderson transfuses extra blood than another hospital in the US, and it depends on the generosity of blood and plasma donors to help our most cancers sufferers. This may be difficult at instances relying on sufferers’ wants and availability of sure blood sorts. These with O-type blood can provide purple blood cells to anybody. This kind is named the common donor, and it’s at all times in demand. Principally used for emergency transfusions and immune-deficient sufferers, O-negative blood is in highest demand, however solely about 7% of the inhabitants has O-negative blood.
Seymour occurs to be a part of that 7%.
“I didn’t know I had this uncommon blood sort. That makes me extra grateful for the individuals who donate. If it weren’t for donors offering platelets, hemoglobin and bone marrow, there could be no story right here to inform,” he mentioned.
Placing CMML therapy plan into motion
Seymour’s care workforce is aware of firsthand what an essential function blood donors have performed in his therapy and restoration.
“The aggressive induction remedy and stem cell transplant he wanted to regulate the leukemia wouldn’t have been doable with out the transfusion help offered by MD Anderson Blood Financial institution,” Garcia-Manero says.
Stem cell transplants are sometimes used to deal with folks with CMML. At age 70, Seymour felt the timing was proper when Garcia-Manero advisable one after 5 years of monitoring. “I didn’t need it getting out of hand as I acquired older,” he says.
He started the stem cell transplant therapy protocol in July, receiving high-dose chemotherapy to destroy the most cancers cells as a way to put together his physique for wholesome blood stem cells from a donor. The donated cells substitute the bone marrow not producing enough blood cells.
Since then, Seymour has been staying in an residence not removed from MD Anderson. Publish-transplant, sufferers are intently monitored for 100 days, and their blood is examined steadily to make sure the physique is accepting the donor cells with out concern.
That 100 days was up on the finish of October.
Seymour was just lately cleared to start bodily remedy after the brand new 12 months.
“I’m simply taking small steps and searching ahead. I’m taking it daily,” he says. “I’m simply grateful.”
Schedule an appointment to donate blood at MD Anderson Blood Financial institution.
