Diana Tirpak
As the popular t-shirts around town proclaim “Life Is Good” – so it is with me. Tomorrow I will celebrate fourteen months of good life after having received an umbilical cord stem cell transplant.
My incredible journey started long before that however. I was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia in July 2007 after having been diagnosed with a form of chronic leukemia several years before.
I was hospitalized for five weeks during the summer of 2007 and received high dose chemotherapy which did not work. On a follow up visit to my oncologist, Dr. Laughlin, my family and I heard the prognosis. “Two to six months to live,” she said.
The following weeks were filled with dreaded anxiety for my family. I even dragged my husband to a tailor to buy a properly fitted black suit that he would wear to my funeral. I washed and starched several shirts and picked out the proper ties.
After hearing my prognosis and after talking with my family and Dr. Laughlin we decided to try one more course of chemotherapy which miraculously put me in remission and gave me the opportunity to receive an umbilical cord stem cell transplant. My new life began at 9:53 a.m. on Friday, February 22, 2008. I have been growing younger and healthier every day. There is no big stuff in my life anymore; it’s all about the small stuff.
I’m back to riding my bike and walking the towpath in the National Park. I’ve also been participating in a research exercise program for cancer survivors.
My family celebrated and will continue to celebrate the birthday of my stem cell donor. We know that the stem cells came from a baby girl who was born on June 18th. My then six year old grandson named the baby Mary Call because he said it sounded like the word miracle which was going to make me well.
Because of the umbilical cord stem cell transplant I am here today and that black suit still hangs untouched in the closet. I feel that everyone who needs it should be given the opportunity to have an umbilical cord transplant so they too can say, “Life Is Good.”