After undergoing the myriad challenges of a stem cell transplant and the procedure’s recovery, cancer survivor Peter Gordon is now helping others better understand the process from a patient’s point of view.
Stem cell transplants are performed in order to give a patient new blood cells, as well as a new immune system. It is this new immune system that plays a key role in making certain blood cancers go away and stay away.
In 2009, Drew was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder. Because of a stem cell transplant, he was cured—and now, he has his mind set on becoming a pediatric oncologist.
A stem cell transplant is an infusion of healthy stem cells. Stem cells are located within the bone marrow and are the cells from which all other blood cells and the immune system are created.
Stem cell transplantation, otherwise known as bone marrow transplantation, is the infusion of healthy stem cells into the body to stimulate new bone marrow growth. Stem cells are vital to a person’s ability to fight infection, and stem cell transplants are performed on children whose stem cells have been damaged by disease or invasive treatments … Read more
Charles “Chuck” Vanada has been looking forward to Thanksgiving with his family this year, but the non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivor has already experienced feelings of gratitude in 2017 more powerful – and in places more unexpected – than anything he could have imagined. In April, Vanada and his wife, Debbie, traveled from their Boston-area home to … Read more
A stem cell transplant is an infusion of healthy stem cells. Stem cells are located within the bone marrow and are the cells from which all other blood cells and the immune system are created. Introducing healthy stem cells into the blood enables the production of all of the different parts of the blood that both the … Read more
Twenty years to the day after undergoing the stem cell transplant that saved him, Todd Ellison reunited with the Dana-Farber caregivers who changed his life – in more ways than one. Ellison, who was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in his early 20s, shared handshakes and “thank you” cake with his doctors Joseph Antin, … Read more
Donor stem cell transplants and other cellular therapies are treatment approaches that harness the immune system to fight cancer using cells from the patient or from healthy donors. What are stem cell transplants? Stem cell transplants are used to treat blood-related cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, as well as certain non-cancerous blood … Read more
A stem cell transplant can be a lifesaving treatment for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, or certain blood-related disorders. In many cases, however, transplants increase patients’ risk for an array of long-term health problems, often caused by the high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy used prior to the transplant. Dana-Farber’s Adult Stem Cell Survivorship … Read more
After walking 1,000 miles in his bare feet to escape war, and then flying 7,000 more to a new life, it was a few, short steps into a hospital room that helped Panther Ajak Mayen complete his journey. One of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” who escaped a civil war in his homeland 30 years … Read more
A stem cell transplant is a procedure during which doctors either replace diseased or ineffective stem cells with healthy new stem cells or allow high-dose treatment for lymphoma, some testicular cancers, and other diseases. It is often lifesaving for patients with blood cancer and serious blood disorders. A person may need a transplant for a … Read more
Medically reviewed by Joseph H. Antin, MD A treatment for patients with blood-related cancers and certain blood disorders, stem cell transplantation involves replacing a patient’s unhealthy blood-forming cells with healthy ones. Patients are first treated with chemotherapy, and sometimes radiation therapy, to wipe out or diminish the bone marrow and lymph nodes where cancers such … Read more
The holidays can be a happy time of family gatherings and traditions, but the combination of extended family and friends and cold and flu season can be dangerous for patients who are immunocompromised following recent stem cell transplants to treat blood cancers including multiple myeloma, leukemia, lymphoma, and related disorders. “When transplant patients leave the … Read more
A reduced-intensity stem cell transplant, also known as a ‘mini’ transplant, is a modified form of a procedure that replaces a patient’s blood-forming stem cells with those of a compatible donor. Mini-transplant patients receive lower doses of chemotherapy than are used in a full-intensity, or myeloablative, transplant, and, in general, receive no radiation therapy. The … Read more
Stem cell transplants today can be performed on some patients well into their 70s. While advances in transplant techniques and supportive care have made transplants safer for older patients, a variety of factors influence whether the procedure is right for each individual. Your care team can help determine what is best for you. What is … Read more
Patients and Dana-Farber researchers alike welcomed this week’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a new drug for a potentially fatal side effect of stem cell transplants. The approval means patients can receive the drug, defibrotide, as standard therapy for hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD) of the liver, a dangerous condition that sometimes follows transplantation … Read more
Drew D’Auteuil is a 17-year-old animal-loving, skiing, rowing, volleyball- playing, honor roll student with braces and a shock of red hair. Although he may seem like a typical teen, D’Auteuil has survived rare, life-threatening complications of a stem cell transplant for severe aplastic anemia. “It’s eye-opening to realize how fragile life really is when you’re … Read more
By Todd Ellison, MSW, LICSW I often tell people that the experiences I’ve had, however challenging, were necessary to make me who I am today. I am pretty happy with the person I turned out to be, and I think cancer had a lot to do with that. Back in 1997, I was living in … Read more
Leaving the hospital is an important milestone for stem cell transplant patients, because it marks the first return home after what can often be an extended recovery. But this homecoming also requires a bit of advance preparation. That’s because stem cell transplants destroy and rebuild the immune system, leaving patients immunocompromised and thus more vulnerable … Read more