Getting Ready

Hello everyone!


First of all, I want to thank you all so much for your support, prayers and good wishes. We are very blessed to have such an amazing circle of friends and family. I don't know how we would get through this without you all.


Five years ago Patrick was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). It was a scary time but he was able to begin a drug therapy, called Gleevec, that was very effective in controlling his CML. 85% of patients who go on Gleevec are able to stay on it indefinitely with amazing results. After five successful years of treatment on Gleevec, Patrick became resistant to the medication. Needless to say, it was a dark day when we got that news. He underwent several blood labs and a bone marrow biopsy and began a new, more aggressive, drug therapy called Tasigna. He's been seen by the best doctors at Cedars, UCLA Medical and City of Hope and they all agree that it's time for a bone marrow transplant. Fortunately, when Patrick was first diagnosed five years ago, his siblings were all screened as potential donors and his brother Seamus turned out to be a perfect match.


So here we are...


Patrick is being treated at City of Hope (COH) by Dr. David Snyder, Associate Transplant Director and the incredible staff at COH.



Seamus and his lovely wife Olivia have flown over from Ireland. And Seamus has begun the process at COH. He's been poked and prodded and they are very happy with his results. A perfect match! His procedure will be relatively non invasive. Stem cells will be harvested from his blood during a process that takes several hours. These cells will then be introduced intravenously into Patrick's system and will then grow into his new bone marrow and immune system. No more CML! Science is amazing!



Patrick has a few more visits to COH over the weekend and will be admitted on Monday the 26th to begin his conditioning (radiation and Chemo) to prepare for his transplant.



That's it for now. I'll keep you all posted as we move forward.

Be well,

Isaac