Submissions to "Patients' Stories" cannot be verified for their accuracy.  They do not necessarily represent validated medical research.  The reader should understand that these stories represent only the opinions of the authors and not the Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation.

I am a SURVIVOR of HairyCell Leukemia. I was 35 years old , father of two, ages 3 and 6 , stationed in Japan with the Canadian Embassy, at the height of my career, when I was mis-diagnosed with APLASTIC anemia. I was told I would be subjected to massive doses of Radiation, which I might not survive.  I elected to get a second opinion, from a Canadian doctor, and promptly flew home, without my family, to be met at the airport by two colleagues, on their own time and with their own car, to take me directly to the hospital from airport.  I was diagnosed with HCL in 1988.  This diagnosis gave me a fighting chance.

It took me two months to realize that I would not resume my career in Japan, even though the embassy had kept my job unfilled.  My family came home but I was too sick to even watch my children, while my wife tried to find a home we could afford.  She went with  the two kids, looking for the place to raise our children, and conveniently close to my hospital.  The next 3 years is a blur, with little memory of my children growing up. I do remember the movers moving us and putting our bed together and carrying on with the move.  I woke up 8 hours later, in time to say goodbye and thank you.

Three years of sickness followed  with interferon and experimental pentostatin and countless painful bone marrow biopsies before winning the chance to live and try to piece my life back together.  I was used as a model survivor  by my Oncologist to spur two of her patents to carry on the fight. One was a slightly older fellow than I at that time, he was in his late thirties, the other an old farmer, in his late sixties.