Hooray! Another Gate Pass today!
However, this will really be the last Gate Pass for a long time, as Jeremy will be hooked up to Cyclosporin tonight and tomorrow in readiness for his bone marrow transplant on Tuesday. Cyclosporin is an immunosuppressant or anti-rejection drug which will reduce the activity of Jeremy's immune system so that it will not reject the donor cord blood (the new bone marrow that he will receive on Tuesday).
Cyclosporin will also be used after his bone marrow transplant to help reduce GVHD (Graft Versus Host Disease). GVHD is an immune reaction when cells of the donor's immune system recognise Jeremy's body as foreign and attack it. The skin, gut and liver are common targets of GVHD. Please pray that Jeremy will not experience severe GVHD complications, but that he will have a tiny bit of GVHD (which the doctors refer to as Graft Versus Leukaemia) so that his new immune system will wipe out any remaining leukaemia cells.
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