Bill Kelley’s unbreakable bond with the clinical team that guided him through myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a group of rare blood disorders impacting the bone marrow, and a stem cell transplant was never more evident than during a Sunday night in the summer of 2025.
Kelley’s sister Joan had arranged a surprise 70th birthday baseball outing for him and 30 of his friends and family members at Boston’s Fenway Park, where Kelley had grown up cheering for his beloved Red Sox. Seated beside him in the stands was his oncologist Robert J. Soiffer, MD, and during the game Soiffer leaned over and whispered in Kelley’s ear something that under normal circumstances would be fighting words — but in this case earned only a laugh and a smile in return.
“I grew up in New York,” Soiffer softly explained to Kelley. “I’m afraid I’m a Yankees fan.”
Even the sin of rooting for the Red Sox’ hated rival was not enough to dampen Kelley’s devotion towards Soiffer and colleagues in the Adult Leukemia Program at Dana-Farber that had collectively saved Kelley’s life. Led by Soiffer, Kelley’s clinical team in the Leukemia Program and Adult Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Dana-Farber have helped him recover to the point where the retiree now works out three days a week, walks the other four, and volunteers as an assistant coach for a high school softball team.
“When things were at their toughest, Dr. Soiffer always ensured me it was going to be OK,” says Kelley. “I believed in him, and my clinical team, and they were right.”
Collaborative care
Kelley, a Norwood, Mass. native who raised his family in Norfolk and recently moved to upstate New York, was keeping up his active retirement of morning swims and afternoons coaching when he began experiencing ongoing fatigue in late 2020. After ignoring the problem for several months, he finally had his blood checked at his wife Carol’s insistence in May 2021.
“I was on my way to the softball field after having my blood drawn when I got a call from the doctor telling me my blood counts were very low, and I had to go to the emergency room immediately,” Kelley recalls. “I went to the ER at a local hospital, and that’s where I got my MDS diagnosis and referral to Dana-Farber.”
There he and Carol met Soiffer, chief of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies. Soiffer, along with nurse practitioner Amy Joyce, NP, and research nurse Jen Brock, RN, assured the Kelleys that they would be able to find a treatment plan to stabilize Bill’s MDS to the point where he would be eligible for a life-saving stem cell transplant and then a clinical trial.
“During Bill’s appointments, there were never any egos in the room,” says Carol. “Everyone was heard, including Bill and me. The care always felt collaborative, and we consistently felt that our voices mattered and that we were genuinely respected by Dr. Soiffer, Jen, and Amy.”
For her husband, the greatest thing about this team besides its expertise was its warmth. Kelley says that the conversations he had with Soiffer, Joyce, and Brock, about their families and lives outside the hospital proved a wonderful diversion, as did the opportunity to help them in an area where he was the expert.
“One day Dr. Soiffer came in to our appointment swinging an imaginary bat,” Kelley recalls with a laugh. “When I asked him what was up, he told me that he and Jen were getting ready for a softball game, and he was having trouble with his swing and kept grounding out to first base. I was happy to give him some tips.”
Marking milestones
Soiffer was also a great source of encouragement when it came to securing a donor for Kelley’s stem cell transplant. Although his siblings were not considered suitable donors due to their age, and his and Carol’s daughters Emma and Anna would only have a 50%chance of matching, Soiffer assured the family that a perfect match would arise from the international stem cell donor registry. He was right, and in September 2021, the stem cells of a 21-year-old man from Turkey were infused into Kelley’s bloodstream.
While he did endure side effects including infections, ocular, kidney, and liver graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) — a condition that can occur after stem cell transplants — as well as reflux, pericarditis, and fatigue, Kelley says the support of his family, clinical team, and his desire to get back to coaching kept him motivated.
“In addition to his stem cell transplant, Bill was an eager participant in two cutting-edge clinical trials, which I believe have made a positive impact on his clinical course,” says Soiffer. “It has been a great honor for Jen, Amy, and I to partner in Bill’s care, and it was a treat for us all to join him and his family to celebrate his 70th birthday at Fenway last September.”
Carol adds that the team also served as a great source of strength to her in her role as Kelley’s primary home caretaker during his transplant – and beyond.
“Whether it was learning to clean and care for his port or keeping track of the fourteen medications he was sent home with, I never felt alone,” says Carol. “They answered every question — no matter the hour, whether it was 10:00 at night or 2:30 in the morning. They provided comfort and instilled confidence during a time that felt unbearable. I will always, always be grateful for them.”
After all the challenges he endured since his diagnosis, 2025 was a breakthrough year for Kelley. His blood and platelet counts stabilized, and he was able to return to coaching. Although he continues to deal with ocular GVHD, a form of the disease that causes severe eye dryness, he says it’s a small price to pay for all that he has.
“I have a great life,” Kelley says. “I just put everything in perspective, live in the moment, and don’t look too far ahead. I love coaching, and have incredible support from my wife, my kids, and my sisters. When I first met Dr. Soiffer, he told me how important it was to get to the two-, three- and five-year points after my transplant. Well, now I’m almost five years out, and that feels really great.”
So does something else he got to do twice in 2025 – walk daughters Emma and Anna down the aisle when both were married within a six-month span.