Tami received her stem cell transplant from an anonymous donor in June of 2009. She continues to recover slowly but steadily.

Tami is a 44 year old mother of 2 who was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome* in February, 2009.

MDS is a disease of the bone marrow very similar to acute leukemia. It causes the bone marrow to produce blood cells and platelets at a hyper rate causing them to be underdeveloped and ineffective when they enter the blood stream.

Tami's first physical symptom was exhaustion. Tests confirmed she was anemic with her red and white blood cell counts and platelet count being low. Because her condition has progressed rapidly, her doctors want to perform a Stem Cell Transplant as soon as possible. This is similar to a bone marrow transplant.

Tami essentially spent over 9 weeks at the hospital following her diagnosis. There were 2 occasions her Doctor tried to allow her to go home but she was readmitted to the ER in less then 24 and 36 hours each time.

Finally on May 1st she was allowed to return home and continue her transfusions as an out patient. She did have one bad day that necessitated her being readmitted to the hospital overnight but she is back home again now. Somewhat shockingly her marrow has begun to produce healthier blood cells and platelets in the past few weeks. Her doctors are unsure why this is happening so she will undergo more testing when she is admitted to the treatment hospital in June. For now we're just thankful that she's holding her own and her condition is improving instead of worsening.

Patients with MDS have to worry that general infections like the common cold can become life threatening due to their immune systems being compromised by their lowered white blood cell counts. A simple cut can cause hemmoraghing due to their reduced blood platelet counts. For 1 of 3 patients one of the most worrisome aspects of MDS is that within months or years of diagnosis MDS progresses to become acute myeloid leukemia. So there is a definite sense of urgency in finding a match for her before any of these things happen.

Her diagnosis is all the more shocking because MDS usually afflicts men more often then women and people over the age of 70 years old. It rarely affects children and less commonly affects people under the age of 60.

• Myelosdysplatic Syndrome is also commonly known as MDS, Myelodysplaysia and Pre-leukemia.

Her Kids...
As it stands once a donor is found Tami is going to have to spend several months away from her 2 young kids while preparing for and receiving her stem cell transplant through the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. The "Hutch" is one of the world's leading cancer research hospitals and is where bone marrow transplants were pioneered. Over the years, doctors in their bone-marrow transplantation program have performed more of these transplants than anywhere else in the world, with patients coming from every continent except Antarctica.

We feel extremely fortunate that Tami was accepted into their program.