The interview was very interesting and insightful due to the many challenges that a donor must overcome. It is hard enough to have a sister who has cancer, but to also be the donor is very daunting. From how he described the methods of the transplants and side effects, it seemed both physically and mentally challenging to go through the process. The interviewee mentioned that he had no problem volunteering for the task and would do anything to help his sister even though an allogenic stem cell transplant is a lot to handle.
The reason why we chose this project is because two of our group members personally know people who have this disorder. What makes MDS an important project is that the only known cure is an allogenic stem cell transplant. The most difficult part about the transplant is finding a donor. If there are not family members who match the person with MDS, it can be very hard to find an outside donor would match on all levels. Hopefully through grid computing, an answer can be found to help patients who have no donor matches. Another important reason to
research MDS is that it is very rare in people under the age of 50. Christine
and Emily are the two group members who know people under the age of 25 with
this pre-leukemia. This is especially rare and there are no known causes for
this to occur in healthy, young adults. MDS relates to evolution because there
is a mutation in the bone marrow of people with this disease. This mutation is
not useful and is detrimental to a person’s health. Because there are no know
causes for MDS in young adults, doctors must look to evolution to try and
understand how this cancer has developed to effect younger people who have
never had cancer before.
~Christine Schatz
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Interview
As part of our project we needed to interview an expert on our topic. We interviewed Christine's boyfriend (TJ) who is the donor for his sister who has MDS.
The treatments that you used/are using consist of what, or what are they? (Did you have to take different methods than the normal route since people who usually receive this are of an older age)
- Allogenic stem cell transplant.
- In allogenic stem cell transplant the stem cells do not come from the patient, but from a donor whose tissue type closely matches the patient. The donor is often a family member, usually a brother or sister.
- The donor receives a series of growth factor G-CSF shots to increase the stem cell production in their bone marrow.
- Usually the donor receives one shot a day for five days, but due to my age and body mass, they increased it to a double dosage.
- The donor is hooked up to dialysis-type machine on sixth day, in which the blood runs through a centrifuge and separates the stem cells, and returns the rest of the blood to the body.
How does the treatment affect you differerntly since you are younger than the average age of the person that gets this type of cancer? Or did it matter really your age?
- Because of the dosage size of the growth factor, I was at a higher risk for side effects. Abour the third day I started having flu-like aching symptoms and couldn't sleep. This lasted for three days.
How has MDS affected you/your family?
- My mother and sister and niece had to live in St. Louis for the entire 6 months of treatment. My father worked in Independence and was traveling between there, home and St. Louis. I had to house sit for them the entire summer. It was very difficult on us and our relationships.
What all did you/your family go through in the process of finding a cure for your sister?
- I gave blood to the Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for lab work and I was a 5/5 match to donate so there was no need to look for donors elsewhere.
- My mother and sister had to constantly drive to St. Louis for doctor's appointment
How long did it take for the doctors to diagnose the cancer since it is such a rare form?
- 1-2 months
The treatments that you used/are using consist of what, or what are they? (Did you have to take different methods than the normal route since people who usually receive this are of an older age)
- Allogenic stem cell transplant.
- In allogenic stem cell transplant the stem cells do not come from the patient, but from a donor whose tissue type closely matches the patient. The donor is often a family member, usually a brother or sister.
- The donor receives a series of growth factor G-CSF shots to increase the stem cell production in their bone marrow.
- Usually the donor receives one shot a day for five days, but due to my age and body mass, they increased it to a double dosage.
- The donor is hooked up to dialysis-type machine on sixth day, in which the blood runs through a centrifuge and separates the stem cells, and returns the rest of the blood to the body.
How does the treatment affect you differerntly since you are younger than the average age of the person that gets this type of cancer? Or did it matter really your age?
- Because of the dosage size of the growth factor, I was at a higher risk for side effects. Abour the third day I started having flu-like aching symptoms and couldn't sleep. This lasted for three days.
How has MDS affected you/your family?
- My mother and sister and niece had to live in St. Louis for the entire 6 months of treatment. My father worked in Independence and was traveling between there, home and St. Louis. I had to house sit for them the entire summer. It was very difficult on us and our relationships.
What all did you/your family go through in the process of finding a cure for your sister?
- I gave blood to the Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for lab work and I was a 5/5 match to donate so there was no need to look for donors elsewhere.
- My mother and sister had to constantly drive to St. Louis for doctor's appointment
How long did it take for the doctors to diagnose the cancer since it is such a rare form?
- 1-2 months
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