• LLS
  • Team In Training
  • Light The Night
  • Man & Woman of the Year
  • Students of the Year
  • Regatta
  • Hero Squad
  • Lifestyle
  • Big Climb
  • Community
  • Careers at LLS
  • Donate
  • Menu
  • About LLS

    Who We Are

    • Our History
    • Leadership
    • Financials

    Our Mission

    • Research
    • Policy & Advocacy
    • Patient Support

    Contact Us

    • My Chapter
    • Our Regions
    • News Network
    • Partner With LLS
    • Blogs
    • Work at LLS
  • Patients
    & caregivers

    Disease Information

    • Leukemia
    • Lymphoma
    • Myeloma
    • Myelodysplastic Syndromes
    • Myeloproliferative Neoplasms
    • Facts & Statistics
    • Children and Young Adults
    • Newly Diagnosed
    • Managing Your Cancer
    • Treatment
    • Clinical Trials

    Support Resources

    • Contact an Information Specialist
    • Financial Support
    • Online Chats
    • Support Groups
    • Peer-to-Peer Support
    • Caregiver Support
    • Nutrition Consultations
    • LLS Patient Community
    • Podcast
    • Other Helpful Organizations
    • Suggested Reading
    • LLS Health Manager™ App

    Education Resources

    • Information Booklets
    • Webcasts
    • Videos
    • 3D Model Library
    • Drug Listings
    • Blood Cancer Conferences
  • Researchers &
    Healthcare Professionals

    Academic Grants

    • Academic Grant Programs
    • Apply for an Academic Grant

    Therapy Acceleration Program

    • Portfolio
    • The Team
    • Latest News
    • How To Apply

    Resources for HCPs

    • Continuing Education Programs
    • Continuing Medical Education Programs
    • Free Publications
    • Podcast
    • Patient Referral Form
    • Trish Greene Back to School Program
  • How to help

    Ways to Give

    • Donate Online
    • Monthly Giving
    • Donor-Advised Funds
    • Employee Matching Gifts
    • Wills, Trusts, and Annuities
    • Stock Transfer
    • Tribute Gifts

    Fundraise

    • Fundraising Events
    • Create a Tribute Page
    • Create Your Own Fundraiser

    Volunteer

    • Volunteer
    • Become a Social Ambassador

    Advocate

    • Take Action
    • Sign Up to Be an Advocate

    Shop

    • LLS Store
    • Charitable Shopping
  • Donate
  • About LLS
    • Who We Are
      • Our History
      • Leadership
      • Financials
    • Our Mission
      • Research
      • Policy & Advocacy
      • Patient Support
    • Contact Us
      • My Chapter
      • Our Regions
      • News Network
      • Partner With LLS
      • Blogs
      • Work at LLS
  • Patients & caregivers
    • Disease Information
      • Leukemia
      • Lymphoma
      • Myeloma
      • Myelodysplastic Syndromes
      • Myeloproliferative Neoplasms
      • Facts & Statistics
      • Children and Young Adults
      • Newly Diagnosed
      • Managing Your Cancer
      • Treatment
      • Clinical Trials
    • Support Resources
      • Contact an Information Specialist
      • Financial Support
      • Online Chats
      • Support Groups
      • Peer-to-Peer Support
      • Caregiver Support
      • Nutrition Consultations
      • LLS Patient Community
      • Podcast
      • Other Helpful Organizations
      • Suggested Reading
      • LLS Health Manager™ App
    • Education Resources
      • Information Booklets
      • Webcasts
      • Videos
      • 3D Model Library
      • Drug Listings
      • Blood Cancer Conferences
  • Researchers & Healthcare Professionals
    • Academic Grants
      • Academic Grant Programs
      • Apply for an Academic Grant
    • Therapy Acceleration Program
      • Portfolio
      • The Team
      • Latest News
      • How To Apply
    • Resources for HCPs
      • Continuing Education Programs
      • Continuing Medical Education Programs
      • Free Publications
      • Podcast
      • Patient Referral Form
      • Trish Greene Back to School Program
  • How to help
    • Ways to Give
      • Donate Online
      • Monthly Giving
      • Donor-Advised Funds
      • Employee Matching Gifts
      • Wills, Trusts, and Annuities
      • Stock Transfer
      • Tribute Gifts
    • Fundraise
      • Fundraising Events
      • Create a Tribute Page
      • Create Your Own Fundraiser
    • Volunteer
      • Volunteer
      • Become a Social Ambassador
    • Advocate
      • Take Action
      • Sign Up to Be an Advocate
    • Shop
      • LLS Store
      • Charitable Shopping
  • Partners
    • LLS
    • Team In Training
    • Light The Night
    • Man & Woman of the Year
    • Students of the Year
    • Regatta
    • Hero Squad
    • Lifestyle
    • Big Climb
    Community Careers at LLS Language
    • English
    • Spanish
    • Canadian English
    • French Canadian

I am a Patient looking for Disease/Treatment Information related to

En Español
  • Who We Are All Survivor Stories Steve

Steve

LLS First Connection Volunteer and AML Survivor

Survivor & Volunteer

Eden Prairie, MN

  • Print

In June of 2016, I went to my primary care physician for a routine physical. Lab work revealed an abnormally low white blood cell count, triggering a bone marrow biopsy that found acute myeloid leukemia. In 48 hours, I went from feeling perfectly fine to a week-long, 24/7, chemotherapy cocktail. That was followed by four more weeks in the hospital to treat the inevitable infections and side effects of chemotherapy induced immunosuppression.

I quickly learned that the rest of life doesn’t stop just because we’re sick. The day after I was hospitalized, my wife arrived at my hospital via ambulance with what proved to be a fractured femur. She spent a week preparing for and recovering from surgery before being discharged to a transitional care unit for a month of rehabilitation.

Three weeks into my hospitalization, a nasty thunderstorm downed two sixty- foot trees onto the roof and deck of our unoccupied home. I spent another couple weeks dealing with tree services, insurance adjustors, contractors and roofers from the dubious comfort of my hospital bed.

Four weeks in, a biopsy showed that my induction treatment had achieved a temporary remission and bought me time to consider my next step. I opted for a double umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant and playfully named my baby donors “Ralph” and “Gwen.” Three weeks after transplant, another biopsy revealed that Ralph was 99% engrafted.

We got along right from the start. Ralph built me a new immune system, and he was also kind enough hold his fire, so I had no graft. vs. host disease. In reviewing my initial remission, Ralph’s engraftment, and no GVHD, my transplant oncologist simply said, “this is as good as it gets.”

Throughout months of hospitalization and treatment, I developed several coping mechanisms. They included mindfulness, meditation and yoga, physical exercise, a pro-active role in my treatment, an unrelenting sense of humor, and a practical, secular mind set.

But my most valuable coping mechanism was writing my story. Throughout my odyssey, I sent over sixty email reports to over fifty recipients documenting my treatment and reflecting on my experience as a cancer patient.

I quickly realized that this writing for others had become therapy for me. It allowed me to take the chaotic threads of my daily experience and weave them into a coherent narrative of what was happening to me. Composing these reports became a psychic survival mechanism that allowed me to be the author of my own life.

One year after my transplant, I participated in LLS’s “Light the Night” by walking across the Stone Arch Bridge in downtown Minneapolis with thousands of survivors, caregivers, and people honoring those who had died. The experience was sacred, humbling, revelatory, and empowering all at the same time.

I also became an LLS First Connection volunteer speaking with patients by phone around the country as they navigate their own cancer journeys. Despite the diversity of our backgrounds, we have found much common ground in the challenges of facing cancer and our strategies for surviving it.

Three and half years later, I remain cancer free and have expanded my work supporting current patients, recruiting transplant donors, and helping others become the authors of their own lives.

My full story was published as “How Steve became Ralph: A Cancer/Stem Cell Odyssey (with Jokes).” 



Previous StoryMaklynn
Next StoryDoug
Previous StoryMaklynn
Next StoryDoug

Follow us

Sign up for latest news

Subscribe

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® (LLS) is a global leader in the fight against cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a 501(c)(3) organization, and all monetary donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by tax laws. Please check with your financial advisor if you have more questions.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Security
  • Copyright
  • Link Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Public Disclosure
  • Fundraising Disclosure
  • Refund Policy
  • Work for LLS
  • Contact Us