My Cancer Journey
Friday, May 29, 2009
By: Timothy Mayer

I am a 3 time cancer survivor and also the survivor of a bone marrow transplant in December 2008!

My story begins in December 2006, I was seeing an E.N.T. specialist to find the cause of a lump on the left side on my neck. During the exam he asked if he could go through my nostril and down my throat with a camera to have a look. Of course I agreed.

It was during this exam the he found a small mass on the left side of my vocal chord. A biopsy followed a week later, the results came back positive, I had a squamous cell carcinoma of the left vocal chord. I was the scheduled for 25 rounds of radiation. The specialist as well as my radiation oncologist were both confident we would get a full remission as I was diagnosed early and was pre-stage 1. However, after all of this we still did not know the reason for the lump on my neck, as it was still there and not related to this.

I was during the radiation treatments that another lump developed on the right side of my neck. My oncologist referred me back to the original specialist/surgeon to remove the lump in order to send it for a biopsy. The biopsy was inconclusive and the sample was sent to London Health Sciences center for more testing. As I was nearing the end of my radiation treatments, the results of the biopsy came back. It was positive for T-Cell Hystiocyte Rich Diffuse Large B-Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

I now was going straight from radiation to chemotherapy. After a consultation with the medical oncologist it was determined that being an aggressive cancer we would treat it aggressively with 8 rounds of R-CHOP. I began my treatments in March 2007, two weeks after finishing radiation and continued until September 2007, at which time I was in remission, yea!

In February 2008, after feeling a lump in my neck again and having a follow-up CT, I was informed the cancer (Lymphoma) was back and it was now in my head, neck and lungs. After consultation with my oncologist it was decided that the treatment regimen this time would be GDP, again more aggressive.
 
I began treatment again in March 2008, almost a year to the day of my first chemo experience. Again I underwent 8 rounds of chemo and finished treatment in September 2008, and was in remission once again. My oncologist was now recommending an Autologeous Stem Cell Transplant, she stated this was being done to try and obtain a longer remission period or cure.

In October 2008, I went to London Health Sciences Center for a Stem Cell Harvest to prepare for the transplant. In early November 2008 after to attempts at a stem cell harvest it was determined that they were not able to obtain enough cells for the transplant. In mid to the end November 2008, I again went back to London, where they now were going to go right to the bone and harvest bone marrow.

Success! I was now being sent home again to Windsor and would be returning to London in a week to be admitted for the transplant. I was admitted to London the end of November 2008, to do the transplant and was there for 3 weeks, during which time I celebrated my 50th Birthday, and as my nurse informed me, my "new" birthday. I was back home in Windsor just in time for Christmas.

At this time, May 29 2009, I am still in remission and well on the road to recovery from the transplant. I am very grateful to all my doctors throughout this time and to all family and friends and so glad to have found many groups and friends on Facebook. I will be participating in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay For Life here in Windsor on June 19, 2009 for the first time, and am looking forward to meeting many new friends and survivors.