Cancer patient awaiting transplant

Since the weather warmed up, Jamie Kelley has been riding his bike, playing disc golf and cooking his favorite meals. Nothing too extraordinary, except that this is the first time he’s been allowed to perform such seemingly harmless activities in months  doctor’s orders.

Kelley, 36, has leukemia, a particularly aggressive form that requires a bone marrow transplant.

Twice since doctors diagnosed Kelley’s disease a little less than a year ago, donors have been secured for the procedure. And twice, Kelley has received bad-news phone calls informing him the donor he was counting on to save his life was not available.

So, as Kelley and his family make arrangements for yet another transplant opportunity later this summer in Seattle, they’re hoping there’s truth to the adage “Third time’s a charm.”

“I try not to get too excited about it and just enjoy my summer,” Kelley said.

A one-time shot

Kelley and his wife, Shawn, still are waiting for their insurance company to approve the costly procedure, which doctors estimate will keep Kelley at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle for three to six months. Shawn Kelley is working full time to stay on top of medical bills and will only be able to fly to the coast “as money allows,” she said.

Jamie Kelley’s trying not to think too much about the transplant.

“It’s gonna be rough,” he said.

For about $500,000, doctors will flood Kelley’s body with radiation and chemotherapy to kill off his bone marrow. Then, he’ll get healthy donor marrow through a blood transfusion and remain under close supervision until the new marrow begins producing healthy blood cells.

There’s a chance Kelley could become very ill if his body rejects the transplanted cells. There’s a chance  about 40 percent  that he won’t survive.

“It’s a one-time shot, basically,” he said.

A dangerous time

But undergoing the perilous procedure is worth the risk, Kelley said.

“Pretty much, it’s the only option for me,” he said. “Otherwise, it’ll come back sooner or later.”

Although he has never felt more than just mildly ill, even through eight bouts of chemotherapy, Kelley was in serious danger when doctors discovered his leukemia.

The disease started as chronic myeloid leukemia, a blood-related cancer characterized by the presence of a genetic abnormality in blood cells, called the Philadelphia chromosome. Pieces of the abnormal chromosome break off and switch with pieces of another abnormal chromosome, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The resulting gene produces an abnormal protein that stunts the body’s ability to regulate production of blood cells.

By the time doctors tested Kelley’s blood, his leukemia had reached the acute stage and his marrow was full of “leukemic blasts,” which block the production of normal blood cells and compromise the body’s ability to stave off infection. His stomach and spleen were swollen, and he had dropped more than 20 pounds.

“The doctors can’t believe that I was walking around like I was,” Kelley said. “I was walking around with a 280,000 white blood-cell count. It’s normally about 10,000 to 15,000. I was in a really dangerous time at that point.”

In good spirits

Kelley’s leukemia is in remission now, thanks to an expensive chemotherapy drug. (A three-month supply costs $9,000.) If it weren’t for the half-dollar-sized bump on his hairless head  it’s a port through which doctors can inject chemotherapeutic drugs directly into Kelley’s central nervous system  his illness would be hidden completely.

He’s in good spirits, helped along by friends from all over the world who have had their own bone marrow tested  even though the chances of a match are slim  and organized marrow drives in their communities, and visited Kelley at his Lawrence home.

“Our guest room’s been pretty much booked for the last two months,” he said.

Soon, Kelley will be the one traveling. He has a consultation July 19 in Seattle. He’ll find out more about the timing of the transplant then.

Three days later, the Kelleys will celebrate their second wedding anniversary. They’re confident it won’t be their last.

“We’re always looking forward to other anniversaries,” Shawn Kelley said. “We just always go in with the mind-set that this is going to get better.”