Goodrich – Being a registered nurse for 18 years didn’t prepare Pam Arnold for having leukemia. Since November, the Goodrich resident has been wrestling with the diagnosis.
So has Pam’s family. They’ve devoted themselves to trying to find a stem cell donor.
‘It is very hard to find a match, so we need to test as many people as possible,? said Pam’s daughter, Rebecca Arnold.
Without a compatible stem cell donor, Pam’s doctors say she has only one year to live.
Like many cancer patients, it didn’t cross Pam’s mind to mention her symptoms to her physician.
‘I just went to the doctor mainly because of my ear,? she said. ‘I was hearing swooshing sounds, and I was a little fatigued.
‘A year ago I had a problem with my hemoglobin and unusual bruising that summer that I blew off.?
A blood test revealed abnormally low blood cell and platelet counts, and Pam was immediately referred to an oncologist’a doctor specializing in cancer’and scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy.
The results showed Pam had myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), considered a ‘smoldering leukemia?, Pam said.
‘It’s just sitting there like a little fire, like embers that haven’t caught on fire yet.?
Pam was told her condition could turn into full-fledged leukemia within six to nine months, but two months later she received word that she had acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).
‘I felt like I was in a nightmare all of a sudden,? she said. ‘I couldn’t comprehend it, it was like the big C word. Never in my life did I think I’d be driving to an oncologist’s office.?
Rebecca, 21, had just begun working for a new company on auto shows. Her mother held the news until she returned from Tampa, Fla.
‘No matter how sick she is, it’s all about everybody else,? says Rebecca.
‘They say bad things happen to good people. That may be true because they have an impact on other people.?
Turning down a chance to work on California auto shows, Rebecca finished her classes, quit her job, and moved from Grand Rapids back home to Goodrich to help her mother.
‘We’ve dropped everything so we can take care of this,? she said.
Rebecca, her brother Andrew, 23, and her father Fred, who is the Waterford fire marshall, faced the holidays knowing it could be their last Thanksgiving or Christmas to spend together as a family.
‘It was horrible,? Rebecca said. ‘I cried for two weeks straight’I was absolutely miserable. I’m more moving like a robot now, just have to get things done.?
Fixing her hair one more time, Pam posed for a picture before a round of chemotherapy at Genesys Health Park this month.
Although the prospect of losing her hair isn’t her worst fear, she went on the offensive and clipped her hair short.
‘I’m running my hands through my hair, grabbing it, hoping I didn’t end up with a handful,? she said.
So far, chemotherapy is the most stressful part of her illness.
‘I’m watching them squirt red stuff into the I.V. and waiting to turn into this monster,? she said.
Pam doesn’t know what’s ahead. At times, she’s not sure she wants to know.
‘Fear of the unknown is huger than anything,? she said.
‘I think that my relationship to God is closer because of this. Sometimes, unfortunately, we have to have a kick in the butt to depend on God and know that He’s in control. I believe God has everybody’s life mapped out, that He knows what’s going to happen.?
Pam’s attitude amazes those around her.
‘Her first reaction was ‘God’s doing this to me to help somebody else?,? said Rebecca.
‘Nobody understands why her. We all have people that don’t like us, but there’s nobody that doesn’t like my mom.?
If a suitable stem cell donor is found for Pam, she has a 40 to 42 percent chance of being completely cured, she says, giving her priceless years to spend with her family.
‘That’s great when you have a zero percent chance otherwise. That’s a cure for cancer.?
Because testing to become a stem cell donor is expensive, family and friends are raising funds to enable prospective donors to test at no cost.
Although in previous years, donors? only option was to have stem cells extracted from bone marrow in the hip, a new procedure makes it easier to donate.
‘Blood stem cells are floating in the bloodstream,? says Kim Kyro, R.N., clinical coordinator for University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.
?(Donors) are given a growth factor for five days, then start I.V.s in both arms to collected the stem cells by filtration. You get the rest of the blood back, and only lose about a cup of blood.?
The intravenous collection, nearly as simple as giving blood, takes place on the fifth day of growth factor injections. Occasionally, if a donor is very small and the recipient is a larger person, a second collection will take place on the sixth day.
Although stem cell transplant centers may request a specific method of stem cell collection, the donor always has the option to donate stem cells only by I.V.s, Kyro said.
To learn more about peripheral (intravenous) blood stem cell collection, go to the National Marrow Donor Program site at http://www.marrow.org/DONOR/abcs_of_donation.html.