[Ruth Cuadra]

There were several things that factored into my decision to have a BMT. I was relatively young (43) and had two young children (11 and 14). I had a fully matched unrelated donor. Although I had unstable chromosomes, I had no blasts so my prognosis was not dire. And, doctors at three different hospitals recommended transplantation. The consensus was that because my bone marrow seemed to be changing, I was better off going to transplant sooner while I was still relatively healthy rather than waiting for things to get worse by transforming to leukemia.

I was feeling well, working, and taking care of my family so, as you say, it was hard to think about giving that up for the rigors of the transplant process. But given my circumstances, my husband and I decided we wanted to go for the cure. I had an advantage that squirrelypoo didn't have in that I had about 2 years to think about the possibility of transplant. When I was first diagnosed and treated for aplastic anemia a donor was located. That was a great comfort. There is a lot to be said for finding a donor before it's an emergency and, as One Day At A Time says, making any preparations you can, including writing a will and ensuring your wishes regarding extreme measures are known to your family, caregivers, and doctors. It was hard to be thinking about end-of-life issues while preparing to fight to survive, but ultimately everything was settled and I could focus on getting well.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ruth