Transplant Day!

The day I have been waiting for is finally here.  I would love to say that it was all pomp and ceremony, glitz and glamor, but the whole parade was quite anticlimactic really.  Or was it?  From the outside looking in it may look like that, but from the inside it is massive.  Truly I have struggled with the words and honestly I could not better than the words of my friend Bob Boen who wrote this on FaceBook.


"Today is a very special day! Not for me, but for two of my very good friends in the SCT unit at Northwestern. As I write this note, Andrew Price and Cory Smallegan are both undergoing their Stem Cell Transplantation procedures up on the 15th floor at the Prentice Hospital on the Northwestern Campus.

I know that their wives, Suzie Price and Amanda Smallegan are there with them to aid and comfort them both, and will be with them to share in the success and achievement of the day. This has not been an easy road to travel for either Andrew or Cory, as they had to fight very hard just to get into the program in the first place, and then struggle just as hard to cope with the multiple number of tests and procedures just to stay in the program.

This is not an easy road to walk. Trust me on this... I know of what I speak.

Cory and Andrew will join a very rare and exclusive club today. They will become the 27th and 28th persons (respectively) in North America to become CIDP Stem Cell Transplant survivors, and thence to have a chance to put this disease into remission.

I will follow them in 15 days with my transplantation on April 25th, followed by my friend Wendy Nash with her transplant on April 26th.

Our entry back into the program should in no way diminish Andrew and Cory's accomplishment of today, but rather should serve to underscore our mutual deep sense of gratitude and thanks towards Dr. Burt and his staff for getting us to this point at all!"

On a less up beat note, our friend Wendy Nash, who is slated for her transplant on the 26th of April has had some complications.  Please could you all spare a thought for her as she tries to come to terms with this ordeal.

Until next time, stay well:)