Welcome to Jill's Update Page. I will use this page to keep friends and family up to date on Jill's fight with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
A little history. Jill started noticing symptoms in the winter of 2002-2003. In August 2003 she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a treatable cancer that attacks the lymphatic system. You can read more about this disease at
http://www.lymphomainfo.net/hodgkins/.
Jill started a rigorous chemotherapy treatment immediately. She had twice monthly treatments for about 9 months. The tumors disappeared and the symptoms ceased. But by July the symptoms started to return. In August 2004 she started chemotherapy again, this time at very high dosages. This level of chemotherapy destroys the patient's bone marrow which reproduces blood cells. To restore the bone marrow the doctors perform what is called an autologous blood stem cell replant. In this procedure they harvest the patient's own blood stem cells and freeze them prior to the high dosage chemotherapy. Then immediately after the chemotherapy is complete, they reintroduce the stem cells, which rebuild the bone marrow.
Jill received this treatment during the winter of 2004-2005. The treatment again worked and Jill began to recover, but within a month or so the symptoms reappeared. In early June scans confirmed that the cancer was back.
So that is where we are today. The next treatment will be an allogeneic blood stem cell transplant, which means that the cells will come from a compatible donor. If a compatible donor can be found these treatments will start as soon as possible. Her brother Harley has the highest probability of being compatible. We are currently waiting on the results of the compatibility tests.
Many of you have asked me about the possibility that you may be compatible donors. Since the likelihood of any particular person, even close relatives (other than siblings) being compatible is quite low, doctors don't test relatives if no siblings are compatible. Instead, they check the National Marrow Donor Program bank for matches. You can read about blood stem cell donations at
http://www.marrow.org/DONOR/abcs_of_donation.html.
I invite you to check back to this site regularly, for updates as we know more about Jill's treatment. Of course you are welcome to call me anytime if you want to talk about this. Also, if there are other friends of Jill that would like to read this blog, please feel free to share the address with them. If you would like to respond you are welcome to add a note. Remember that this is an unlisted page. Strangers may stumble onto it by accident but it is not listed anywhere. It is intended for the benefits of Jill's friends and family who want to stay informed and add their thoughts now and then. Let me know if you have any questions.
tom
