Restart

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

Mark Twain

There’s a lot of crazy in the world right now. Continuing pandemic. Ridiculous conspiracy theories. Pointless war. Threats to democracies everywhere, including our own. Avarice and demagoguery. Hypocrisy and ignorance.

Also, though, I see that there is also a lot of love in the world right now. People serving one another, holding each other up. People marrying or having kids. Families growing. People trying to listen better, to understand the world better, and to give voice to our desires for justice and freedom. Churches and other organizations focused on the needs of our community. Decent people doing the right thing most of the time.

Amid this turmoil, I’m starting to write again. Not surprisingly, things have changed with my illness. But before I get into that, let me just say that the last 18 months without having any signs of lymphoma have been a true gift from God. Sure, we had COVID in our lives, and not every day was perfect. However, to be able to live life without worrying about this illness has been something very precious to me and my family. We’ve spent many wonderful days together experiencing beautiful days and rainy days. I’ve enjoyed my friends, my church, and my community.

I had a PET/CT scan in early March that indicated activity in one of my inguinal lymph nodes. I had a biopsy that found Lymphoma cells there. The comprehensive results came in a bit later, showing that several of my lymph nodes are involved. It’s a good thing we caught it early. It hasn’t spread far. As part of the clinical trial protocol, I was getting PET/CT scans every three months. The next scan would have been scheduled for six months out. God knows how far disease might have spread in those six months.

As soon as the results were confirmed, my medical team at UCLA jumped right in planning for the next steps. There is a batch of my own T cells left over from 18 months ago, re-engineered to kill lymphoma. I only received a third of them last time around, and the rest were reserved. These leftovers were frozen and saved. The T cells were recently tested and appear to be viable. That means that if UCLA doctors follow the clinical trial rules (with some minor variations to be approved by the FDA) they can infuse me with these T cells. They’ll be giving me all the T cells left over from last time, about twice as many as before, twelve million of them. That coupled with the fact that I don’t have as many cancer cells in my body yet, this treatment could be more successful than the last one. We will see.

So that’s the nuts and bolts of it. Of course, life is made of more than nuts and bolts. What happens to me affects everyone around me. Fortunately, I have my wonderful wife Roslyn, great friends and a loving family that are ever supportive. I am, truly, the luckiest man on the planet. These people step up to help and keep right on helping.

More information is forthcoming. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you. Please reach out if you have questions.

Be well and be happy. God bless you all.