What a Difference a Decade Makes
How times have changed.
In 1992, after being diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, 47-year-old Pat Haber was told by her physician she was too old to have a bone marrow transplant. That seems preposterous by today’s standards where patients up to 70 years old can successfully undergo a transplant.
Fortunately for Pat, advances in transplantation came quickly in the 1990s and three years later she had a successful transplant with marrow from an unrelated donor one week after her 50th birthday. Today Pat is thriving and an energetic volunteer with BMT InfoNet.
“It’s a remarkable experience to have a bone marrow transplant, to be cured, and to have a new chance at life,” says Pat. “You want to spread hope.”
And spread hope she does. A retired psychotherapist, Pat now counsels patients who are about to have a stem cell transplant through BMT InfoNet’s Caring Connections program. She has also joined the BMT InfoNet team that plans and coordinates the national Celebrating a Second Chance at Life Survivorship Symposium (see page 8 for details).
“Pat’s greatest gift to us is her wonderful sense of humor,” says Jo Hills who heads the symposium planning committee. “It keeps us all sane when things start getting crazy.”
She’s come a long way from the months immediately following her transplant when, like so many survivors, she struggled through fatigue and depression. Now vibrant, energetic and enjoying her retirement, her husband and grandchildren, Pat celebrates daily her second chance at life.
   
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