KESJ: 2 July 2009

Thursday, July 2, 2009

2 July 2009

The bone marrow transplant doctor spoke to Ken today and told him that -

- Jeremy's blast cells need to come down to zero for a successful bone marrow transplant

- Jeremy will have an initial visit to the radiation clinic at Westmead adults hospital next week in preparation for a bone marrow transplant, but this does not necessarily mean that he will be going ahead with a bone marrow transplant

- there is suitable cord blood which could be used for Jeremy, if he does proceed to a bone marrow transplant

Please continue to pray for God's mighty healing hand to be at work in Jeremy.

Please also pray for a speedy recovery from whatever virus/cold/flu bug that both Ken and I have, so we have the energy to look after Jeremy and Stephanie.

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Definitions

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) - a rapidly progressing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. ALL affects the type of developing white blood cells known as lymphocytes. It is the most common form of childhood leukaemia, and the most common type of childhood cancer. It also occurs in adults.

Blast cells - immature blood cells normally found in the bone marrow. Blast cells normally constitute up to 5% of all bone marrow cells. These cells divide and replenish all the normal blood cells in the marrow and circulating blood. Acute leukaemia is characterised by an accumulation of abnormal blast cells that take over the marrow and spill out into the blood stream.

Bone marrow transplant - the process of replacing bone marrow cells (stem cells) that are unhealthy, with stem cells that are healthy. The healthy stem cells are re-infused intravenously through the central line, after very strong chemotherapy and/or radiation to kill unhealthy stem cells. The re-infusion of healthy stem cells essentially rescues the patient from the chemotherapy and/or radiation, by enabling his or her bone marrow to start producing new blood cells.