SECOND CHANCE, SECOND TIME AROUND CEDARS-SINAI BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTS HAVE SAVED HUNDREDS, INCLUDING COUPLE.Byline: CONNIE LLANOS llanos (yä`nōs), Spanish American term for prairies, specifically those of the Orinoco River basin of N South America, in Venezuela and E Colombia. Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA -- Cancer is devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. for any family. But what about when it strikes twice? Joseph, who owns a lighting and grip business in North Hollywood, and Myrna, an aerobics instructor in Canyon Country, have been married 15 years. They have two children active in community sports, and they never miss a game. But, at only 40 years old, both Joseph and Myrna have survived cancer and bone marrow transplants bone marrow transplant: see bone marrow. . It was March 1994, and the McKenna family had just begun to adjust to life with a 6-month-old girl, when a lump on Myrna's breast began to bother her. ``The doctors kept telling me it was a clogged milk duct milk duct n. See lactiferous duct. from breast-feeding breast-feeding /breast-feed·ing/ (brest´fed?ing) nursing; the feeding of an infant at the mother's breast. ,'' Myrna said. But Myrna said her instincts told her otherwise. Myrna's doctors confirmed: cancer. And they gave her a 50 percent chance of living five years. ``She was such a young woman,'' said Dr. Michael Lill, director of the Cedars-Sinai Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and medical director for the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Center Institute. He remembers how aggressive Myrna's cancer was and said he knew a bone marrow transplant was possibly the only cure. Traditional bone marrow transplants have been performed since the late 1960s, usually with donated bone marrow. But in the mid-1990s, a technology was developed that improved survival rates and decreased hospitalization times. In that procedure, stem cells stem cells, unspecialized human or animal cells that can produce mature specialized body cells and at the same time replicate themselves. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst (the blastula typical of placental mammals; see embryo), which is very young are removed from a patient's bone marrow and frozen in liquid nitrogen. The patient -- one whose cancer has proven resistant to lower doses of chemotherapy -- is then given nearly lethal doses of chemotherapy. The stem cells are reintroduced into the patient's system, replacing the cells killed during the aggressive treatment. Today, the Cedars-Sinai Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the Oschin Institute will hold a gathering of hundreds of bone-marrow transplant survivors with friends, family and the medical and nursing staff who cared for them. ``We want these people who had diseases that could have killed them to have a chance to recognize themselves and look forward,'' Lill said. The event at the Skirball Cultural Center  This article or section is written like an .Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view. Mark blatant advertising for , using . is closed to the general public and will feature keynote speakers and survivors sharing their experiences. For Joseph, anything that brings awareness to the transplant that saved his life is something he will sign up for. It was nine years after Myrna's bout with breast cancer that Joseph mentioned to his doctor during a routine physical that he had been suffering unquenchable thirst. Joseph was afraid it was diabetes or kidney damage kidney damage Kidney injury Nephrology A structural or functional compromise in renal function due to external–eg, athletic, occupational, or other trauma, resulting in bruising or hemorrhage, which can be profuse and life threatening Etiology Vascular from taking too many anti-inflammatory drugs Anti-inflammatory drugs A class of drugs that lower inflammation and that includes NSAIDs and corticosteroids. Mentioned in: Antirheumatic Drugs during his high school athletic career. But doctors found lymph nodes Lymph nodes Small, bean-shaped masses of tissue scattered along the lymphatic system that act as filters and immune monitors, removing fluids, bacteria, or cancer cells that travel through the lymph system. in Joseph's abdomen were were pushing on his urinary tract and slowly killing his kidney. Joseph had developed lymphoma, cancer of the immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. . After seven chemotherapy treatments failed to rid Joseph of the disease, he was referred to a specialist at Cedars-Sinai. Years after treating Myrna, Lill now would also be treating her husband. Lill told Joseph he had an 80 percent chance of being cured for life if he -- like his wife -- had a bone marrow transplant. ``I liked those odds,'' Joseph said. Today, the McKennas say they feel blessed and lucky. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how it made me love my family more,'' Joseph said with a smile. ``They were already No. 1 in my life, but it made me love them twice that much.'' Joseph and Myrna agree it often has been more difficult to watch each other struggle than their own battles with the disease. ``When you are the patient, there is a huge list of things you have to do -- it gives you purpose,'' Joseph said. ``But when you are the spouse, you have to just sit there and watch your loved one suffer.'' The McKennas are excited about today's event, realizing that if not for their transplants they might not be here. And they encourage other cancer patients to consider the option. ``If our family had to go through this twice, so someone else doesn't have to go through it, then I am happy,'' Joseph said. connie.llanos(at)dailynews.com (661) 257-5254 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Joseph and Myrna McKenna have been married 15 years and have two children, Erica, 12, and Alex, 9. At 40, both Joseph and Myrna have survived cancer and bone marrow transplants. Alex Collins/Special to the Daily News |
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