Hope for Life

It's just a little hangover. Round 2! WON!

I had just finished my round 2 of chemo and although it is a tougher fight than round 1, I still manage to finish it with gusto (and vomiting of a few times, feeling nauseous for 2 days and tired even till now). Haha.

I was extremely excited that a friend I had not talked to for a really long time is now working in Mayo Clinic. Mayo is an extremely famous health institution in USA and is one of the top researching institution for leukemia. They are the one that came out with the idea that green tea pills can control CLL after phases of clinical trials.
My friend, Carolyn, had spoken with the haematologist in Mayo and helped me asked about stem cell transplant, to do it now or wait. And after hearing their answer, I chose to wait. For I believe that there will be another form of cure in years to come.

True enough, when I was surfing CLLforum.com, a forumer told me that Dr Tom Kipps from Mayo has started researching on genetic treatment for leukemia and this is what he said about it.

Tom Kipps:
I am very excited about the ability to use our own immune system to recognize and destroy the leukemia cells. I've been excited about that prospect for some time, but in more recent times I think that there may be some developments that may make it more practical and more feasible for more patients, and I think that we have to look at the issue of transplantation where patients have achieved curative treatment when they've received a transplant because the graft can sometimes recognize and destroy the leukemia cells. That can also be achieved by not having a transplant by just activating our own immune system, and I'm very excited about this because even the most resistant leukemia cell that's resistant to all different drugs is still very sensitive to being killed by cytolytic T-cells in the immune system.

If they can come out with this treatment in a few years time, I will not have to go through stem cell transplant anymore. Stem cell transplant, though is the latest "in" thing, has it's own problem, especially the Graft vs Host Disease (GvHD), which will happen when your donor's immune system starts attacking your own immune system and even your own organs as it sees them as foreign bodies.

With genetic treatment, GvHD would not be a problem as we are using our own immune system (T cells) to fight against leukemia cells. Gosh, it will be such a break through and I really can't wait for this to become successful.

There's always light at the end of the tunnel and I am slowly approaching it. Living is wonderful and to be alive is happiness. People won't know this fact till they have went through some form of life threatening issues, and it is only after that will they truly admire the beauty of being alive.

posted by Fay @ 8:54 PM