Hello Denise,
I am currently sitting in isolation with my husband at a hospital in Toronto, where he received his new re-engineered cells on Tuesday. Our options were limited when my husband (age 75) relapsed in January. In fact, we felt we were at the end of the line. We opted for a clinical trial. And while the wait was longer than we had anticipated, this new (and hopefully improved) CAR T treatment in Canada offers us hope. We know this won’t end the CLL, but we hope for more time, whatever that is. We have dealt with the ups and downs of CLL and different treatments for 13 years. My husband always seems to relapse after three years as his strain is aggressive. I’m not sure we ever lost hope. Though I must add, a caregivers role is as difficult as being the patient. Science is amazing. Medical science is changing every single day. We have been lucky to follow different treatments as they come available. I do a lot of research, I speak to experts around North America, I actively pull very valuable information from the CLL society website and connect with patients there. We have three different oncologists at three different hospitals, including Mayo. I have a new motto, one day at a time. This is difficult for me, because I’m always thinking ahead and trying to plan. I’ve had to slow down during this very long adventure. Remain positive, remain optimistic, and never lose hope for what might be.