My MRD’s have consistently shown no evidence of disease. But that’s not a fair comparison between our two diseases. Lymphoma and leukemia, while basically related, are not the same and are treated differently. With lymphoma, cancerous cells form tumors in the lymphatic system and interfere with its ability to fight off invading bacteria and viruses. In leukemia the cancerous cells disrupt blood production in the marrow and circulate through the blood interfering with infection-fighting processes.

My AML induction and consolidation chemo sessions were very aggressive which got me into remission long enough to have a bone marrow transplant within a month of my last chemotherapy.
Unfortunately, my old immune system had acquired several mutations which allowed for cancer cells to go undetected by my immune system, allowing them to proliferate out of control. These particular mutations can allow some cancer cells to go dormant during treatments only to emerge later and take off again. They can also morph, further eluding subsequent rounds of chemo. The goal with a new immune system from a healthy donor is that the cancer cells for AML, should they re-emerge, will be recognized and snarfed down like PAC-man. ☺️. So far it’s worked and I’ve remained 100%donor DNA in my blood. People who go through an allogenic transplant are chimeras. We have 2 sets of DNA. In Greek mythology, a Chimaera was a female creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a snake…which my husband jokes is fairly accurate! 😂