Another year . . .

If you were seriously ill on and off throughout your entire life what would you do to become well?

Let's say that someone had a cure but in order to obtain that cure one would have to walk to the gates of hell. The walk would take you an entire year, and there would certainly be difficulties along the way. Plus, you are still quite sick.

During that year you would hardly see friends or family. Your spouse would have to work twice as hard to fund your trip and pay the bills while you were gone.

What if they told you that many hospital patients have walked the path to the gates of hell in order to grasp their healing but that 30% of those who attempted this journey died along their way? What if they told you that another 20% simply had to stop and turnaround, and another 10% were forced to turn back after being stricken with new diseases? Would you go? Would you give up an entire year of your life to walk to the gates of hell for a 40% chance of being well, knowing you could die or become more sick?

- - -


A year ago the doctors thought that my husband was not going to live. I believe one doctor's actual words were, "If I may be frank, Mr. ---, none of us expected you to be alive this morning."

Since my husband is still alive and since his condition is still quite difficult to treat or even diagnose we are given the option of a bone marrow transplant. Last year they had simply suggested the idea as a future possibility. Well, the future has arrived.

When we first heard of the idea of a bone marrow transplant we were actually just 30 feet away from the bone marrow transplant patients' hallway. We were able to meet them, become friends with them, ask questions, and even watched as a mother said goodbye to her daughter, a woman in her early twenties, who passed away during the procedure. Her boyfriend never left her side.

"How bad is it, really?" My husband asked a male nurse who we had befriended and who works with the bone marrow transplant patients. "Honestly," he replied, "We bring you to the gates of hell. And then we slowly bring you back."


* Keep in mind that all cases are different. The exact percentage of survival and healing is difficult to interpret. We are hoping for the very best despite whatever the odds!