I was 71 years old when Guillermo Garcia-Manero, M.D., diagnosed me with aggressive, high-risk, acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) that morphed from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in October 2018. I was in shock. I felt great, but my bloodwork at my annual physical showed otherwise.
I qualified for a Phase I clinical trial and standard of care treatment. After my first treatment in November, my blasts were reduced from 28% to 6%. By March, my blasts had stabilized at 2%, but my counts never recovered. In June, Dr. GGM, as I call him, noted that my AML had reverted to DS. During that visit, Dr. GGM explained to my husband and me that my only option for survival was a stem cell transplant.