Freyd thoughts

Cancer and its Treatment

This post is about Cancer, it is not going to be a particularly uplifting post as my Dad just passed away on Wednesday the 8th from an lung infection called Human Neuman (I don't know if this is the correct spelling). Human Neuman is a relatively new virus as a year ago they did not know it existed. He was only the sixth person at the University of Washington Medical Center to have had it and only one of them survived. He unfortunately didn't even get the treatment that they use for the infection because he had to wear an oxygen mask similar to what they use to treat sleep apnea, so basically he didn't have much of a chance. My mom had been updating everyone on his condition via a weblog on CaringBridge.com. Here is that website, I know my mom found it very therapeutic as well as an easy way for her to update everybody on his condition throughout his ordeal.

He had recently undergone a stem cell mini-transplant from an unrelated donor. We do know that the donor was a 33 year-old woman and we think that she lived in the Seattle area. We recieved a card from her the Monday before he died wishing him the best. The timing of the card was unfortunate, but we hope that she knows that we appreciate her thoughts and her stem cell donation in the attempt to save my Dad. The program does not let the patient or patient's family know who the donor is for at least a year, assuming the donor doesn't want to remain anonymous, in case the patient dies so the family won't direct their blame at the donor. I just want to let the donor know, whoever she is, that even though he didn't make it my family and I really, really appreciate you and your effort. I hope the fact that my father died does not discourage her from donating again in the future if she is found to be a match for someone else.

My dad had also undergone an Autologous stem cell transplant just after Christmas in 2004. An Autologous transplant is when the patient gets their own stem cells back. The autologous is not as hard on the patient as a regular stem cell transplant. The older you get the less your body can take, so the Autologous transplant was the first thing they tried and when it didn't work they tried the mini-transplant which obviously takes a toll on your body, but is the closest thing that they can do to a full transplant on an older patient.

I recommend that everybody join the National Marrow Donor Program, the thought that you could save someone's life in the future should help you sleep better at night. The process is simple and relatively painless. To get on the list they need to take a few vials of your blood for testing. If you match someone you will then be asked to give a several more vials for further more intense testing to see if you are a 100% match. If you are a match there are two types of marrow donations (at least in my Dad's case), one is that they get stem cells from your blood, the other is they take marrow from your hip. I have heard that the second one takes a little while to recover from (and is a little painful), but what is a little discomfort compared to saving someone's life?

My question is this:
If you had cancer and you knew there was a decent chance that the treatment for your cancer would kill you would you go through it or would you enjoy the rest of your days (traveling, spending time with family, etc)?

I know what my Dad chose and I know that he would make the same choice again, that the risks were worth the reward. I know he did not have any regrets, that he was fighting until the end. Although I still wish he was here so that he could've been the best man at my wedding and seen me get married in September. I believe that he will be watching, but it is not the same as having him there.

I'm know that there will be other posts on this in the future and likely an update to this one.

posted by Dan @ 12:55 PM