An Update on John's Third "Birthday"
Today marks three years to the day since John's bone marrow transplant, and I thought an update was due. I'm glad to say that, for all of us, life goes on and is good. John is 25 now and will finish his Masters in Religious Studies from Georgia State in the Fall. During the past year, he taught two to three sections of Philosophy. He enjoys it and is both good and confident at it. Very few of his classmates and students even know about John's experience. His hobbies include playing Rock Band with his assorted friends. Together, they rank high in group scores recorded online. (I don't think that counts toward one's 15 minutes of fame.)
Three years in remission without any recurrence is the statistical point at which a former patient's odds of leukemia are the same as yours and mine. They never use the word "cure", but maybe it is safe to say he is "over" it. The risks and side effects from a transplant never go away and we do live with those, although they are, thus far, mild. John's eyes will never tear again because of the effects of chemo. His energy reserve can eshaust easily and exposure to too much sun or other irritants could cause a flareup of graft vs. host disease. Fortunately, we have seen little evidence of this and it merely lurks in the back of one's mind.
John has developed an excess of iron in his blood, which can occur as a result of having many blood transfusions. This is the one condition for which "bleeding" patients is still common. In John's case though, this could not be done because of the risk of anemia. He is able to take a new drug in pill form, which we hope will correct the problem in due course. His life will be like that, but his life is a great gift and we all appreciate it tremendously.
In the past few months, the son of a friend died of the same type of leukemia that John had. There is no way to understand how and why things like this attack some and not others, nor why a few survive and others do not. The effect, for me, is to know how fragile life really is, to appreciate it so much more and to feel a need to make the most of it.
Courtney is a student at the Art Institute of Chicago. Other than the long, cold winter season, she enjoys the unstructured creative program there and I am sure will graduate with dozens of lucrative job offers, which she will turn down in favor of traveling the world by backpack.
Debbie has grown to be the center of the family, a joy to me and a support and friend to the kids and their own friends. Most afternoons, she sends an email out asking how many of them to expect for dinner. Her pro bono practice has helped many thousands and is an example followed across the country.
As for me, I have settled into appreciating how fortunate we are, working at a meaningful job and enjoying my (too) many hobbies. I have been restoring a 30 foot wooden sloop, built 50 years ago in Nova Scotia.
That is really all the news, I suppose, and I am glad that it is good. I wish at least the same for you.
