Labels

Against the Odds

On this day, five years ago, Steven received his second transplant. After his diagnosis I made a point not to Google anything. There was zero research done by me regarding his disease (AML, inversion 3). I fought my nature and decided that in order to get through this, I would need to trust the doctors and nurses that were treating him. And pray.

And that is what I did.
It was not easy. There were times in the year between his first transplant and second transplant that Steven said he was done fighting and was ready for it to be over. There were times he was dangerously close to getting his wish. It was awful. It was brutal. And the fallout still isn't fun.
BUT.
And this is a HUGE "but".
He made it to this point. Five years.
In February we visited with Steven's physician. At that time she said she would show us something when we reached the five year mark that would illustrate just how far Steven had came. She didn't go into details at that time because she didn't want to jinx anything.
However, due to COVID, Steven has been having televisits and doing labs locally, eliminating our scheduled appointments in St. Louis. On his recent televisit, Dr. Jacoby shared with us the truth about Steven's diagnosis. One I had never dared to ask. One that I couldn't have bared to know at the time.
She told us that she had a graph that showed the prognosis of Steven's diagnosis and the life expectancy associated with it. This graph showed that Steven, with his diagnosis, only had a 10-15% chance of surviving five years. The odds were obviously not in his favor. His prognosis, in the words of the very first doctor that we saw at Mercy, was "not good".
However, at five years the tide changes and the chance of relapse is very small. Very. Small.
This is a milestone that I didn't even dare to think about. A milestone that was made possible by thousands, upon thousands, of prayers. God has shown himself to me in so many ways during the last six years. The love, care, prayers, and concern displayed by Steven's doctors and nurses, family and friends, and by SO MANY of you on Facebook has been one of the ways He has revealed himself to me. As I said last week, on the anniversary of Steven's diagnosis, YOU. ARE. POWERFUL.
When everyone's love and prayers join together, you truly have the power to change the world.
And, save a life.
I love you all.
********
Garrett Thormodson
 - If not for you, Steven would have never even had a chance. We will never be able to articulate how much your gift means to our family. You saved "us".
(If those of you reading this haven't signed up to be a bone marrow donor, please do!!!)
- YOU GUYS ARE THE GREATEST! You attended to me, as well as Steven. You pulled us both through. When the kids were there, you took care of them, too . (
Kadie Orton
, they still remember the donuts.) If you take anything away from the time we spent together, please know YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts