Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous 19-year-old woman in Europe, Redondo Beach resident and single mom Devon Gilbreath-Smith will celebrate two birthdays each year: The day of her birth and the day she received a stem cell transplant.
“The nurses and doctors all came in with a cake and sang happy birthday to me,” said the 43-year-old about her “second birthday” on Feb. 20. She's been cancer-free for 100 days after battling AML leukemia since last August.
After making a miraculous recovery in September from cancer after rounds of chemotherapy killed off her stem cells, she's received a spanking new set. Now she's looking forward to getting all of the vaccinations that a baby needs.
Gilbreath-Smith and her 6-year-old son Ryder and family are indebted to the 19-year-old who signed up for Be The Match, a Pasadena organization that makes becoming a stem cell donor as simple as taking an oral swab and placing the package in the mail.
Program director at Be The Match, Jill Kendall said the chances of being selected to actually donate are extremely slim, but if it does happen, the donation procedure is not as invasive as it used to be. In fact, now it's simple, yet does come with a little pain.
“It's really exciting for people who do get matched to donate. It really gives people a great feeling to know that you are saving a life and making a difference,” Kendall said.
The two methods are both out-patient. The first and more traditional method is a marrow harvest from the bone. The physicians use anesthesia and still a needle in the bone to access enough marrow.
“It's safe, but donors are sore, but can return to normal activities right away,” she said. “These days most donors choose to do apheresis. It's a fancy word for blood collection that is a lot like dialysis. They collect the blood, extract the stem cells or platelets and then return the blood to the donor.”
In February, Gilbreath-Smith was admitted to UCLA Medical Center-Santa Monica and given six more rounds of chemotherapy which killed off her damaged stem cells. She then received the new stem cells through an IV, a lot like when she received many blood transfusions.
She remained in the hospital for 30 days after the transplant so that doctors could keep a close watch on her progress. Now 118 days later she is finally going back to work part-time as an administrator for local businessman Tony Turtanich.
“It's a miracle that I'm even alive. I just want to take my son with me to meet my donor to say 'thank you for saving this 6-year-old boy's mom,'” Gilbreath-Smith said. “The donors remain anonymous for the first year because it's possible that a body will reject the transplant, but after that, if we want to meet, we can.”
Meanwhile, she can send care packages to the donor through Be The Match. Gilbreath-Smith has sent several packages that contained items such as seashells, her favorite candy (turtles), her favorite book, (“Tuesdays with Morrie”), a letter to thank her, a photo of her and her son, a copy of the October article in The Beach Reporter and a map of the South Bay.
“I am so grateful. I just would never imagine that a 19-year-old would be so giving. Usually 19-year-olds are into partying and thinking about themselves. I used to be down on the world, but when I learned that she was donating stem cells to me, a complete stranger, that really changed how I view the world. I will never see it the same way again,” Gilbreath-Smith said. “I want people to understand how easy it is to save someone's life.
“We need to get as many people as possible to join Be The Match. It saves lives, children, babies and people like me. It's so sad, there are so many people waiting to find a match. If I hadn't found one, I would have died.”
The beach cities community rallied around Gilbreath-Smith and raised $20,000 for medical bills and living expenses.
“We have such an amazing community here in the South Bay. People I don't even know have given so much to me. I haven't been able to work, so if it weren't for the generous people in the community, I wouldn't have been able to pay my rent and bills,” she said.
After a year passes, she will be able to enjoy some of her favorite foods and resume normal activities. She can't wait to take her first bite of sushi and have a glass of wine. She looks forward to being able to attend award ceremonies like the one she had to miss at her son's school.
“I'm not able to go into large crowds, I can't be exposed to a lot of germs and I'm sad that I can't go to my son's awards ceremony this week because of the germ exposure at the school. And so I feel like a bad mom, but they all know what I'm dealing with,” she said. “I'm just happy that I can be here for my son.”
Every day she takes a walk at the beach and always thinks about how close she came to death and how grateful she is for the generosity of people.
Gilbreath-Smith's odyssey began last August when she was feeling fatigued and noticed she was bruising too easily. She was in the emergency room at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance when the doctor told her she had acute myelogenous leukemia, an aggressive cancer that attacks the blood and bone marrow.
Doctors immediately began an aggressive treatment and after three days of blood transfusions she was transferred to UCLA where she began chemotherapy treatment. In September, after a second round of chemotherapy, her organs began to shut down and doctors told her parents it was time to gather family and friends to say goodbye.
“I don't remember any of that. I was on my deathbed, they said my feet and hands had started to turn black,” Gilbreath-Smith said.
She was given only two days to live, but the next day, her platelet numbers began to rise, however the prognosis remained grimly the same. The doctors were hesitant to give her family hope. Three days after being handed the medical death sentence, Gilbreath-Smith's heart function started to improve. Doctors were confused, saying this never happens.
She bounced back as fast as she declined and seven days later she was released from the hospital. Ultimately, the stem cell transplant is the only cure of ALM leukemia.
Since Gilbreath-Smith had herself signed up with Be The Match as a potential donor in 2008, she knew exactly where to turn.
Source : http://goo.gl/CZMrgF
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