First of all, they are not blue! I picked this illustration because I thought the actual photos of stem cells were not, shall we say, as picturesque! In fact, unless you are a doctor, marine biologist, or transplant patient, most people could do without seeing what they actually look like! Anyway, they are truly amazing in many ways. Here are a few facts that pertain to John's blood disorder and course of treatment.
All blood cells develop from blood stem cells in the bone marrow. These stem cells are what are called progenitor cells, and they produce the three types of blood cells in your body: red blood cells that carry oxygen, white blood cells that fight infection, and platelets that allow blood to clot. The idea behind a blood and marrow transplant is to wipe out the dysfunctional, diseased bone marrow that is producing rogue cells that are toxic to John's body, and replace it with stem cells collected from John's own blood so that he can produce new bone marrow that produces normal blood cells once again.
Step One in the transplant process is to inject the patient with a growth agent that stimulates mega-production of stem cells. This is called "mobilization," and the patient is injected twice daily for three days. Stem cells normally stay in the bone marrow, but this drug therapy produces so many stem cells that they leave the marrow and enter the blood stream. Once the stem cell numbers are up to a certain level in the blood stream, Step Two, or "collection," will begin.
Today, John began the mobilization phase, and if all goes as planned, collection will begin on Tuesday morning. More on the collection phase soon for those who are interested in the medical details, but for now we wanted everyone to know that John is thus far tolerating this phase well. Thanks to everyone for writing and keeping our spirits up...we know we have a huge team of family, friends, and doctors encouraging John daily and we couldn't do it without you. (Illustration/Google Images)
