Five years after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Steve Ross remembers feeling as if he were standing alone on a mountain at night with a blizzard fast approaching. Descending in the dark might be risky, but staying and facing the blizzard would be fatal. At the time he was considering whether to undergo a bone-marrow transplant to treat his disease. Steve knew the transplant carried risks, but after three unsuccessful experiences with chemotherapy, it was clear that the transplant was his only hope for survival.
"I had reached the point where chemotherapy was not going to work. It would knock the cancer down, but it would always come back, each time a little sooner," Steve remembered.
So, in 1995, he turned to the bone-marrow transplant team at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to help him defeat cancer.
"When you're going to the moon, you want to have the rocket scientists with you and that's kind of how I felt being at the Hutchinson Center," he said.
Steve said the hardest part was writing a letter to leave behind for his family, in case he died. Today, Steve is thankful the letter never had to be delivered. "The transplant saved my life."
Steve is one of tens of thousands of patients around the world who have survived leukemia, lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndromes and other life-threatening blood diseases thanks to treatments pioneered at the Hutchinson Center. One of the Center's founders, Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, won the Nobel Prize in 1990 for this groundbreaking work in bone-marrow transplantation. Among the greatest success stories in cancer treatment, bone-marrow transplantation and its sister therapy, blood stem-cell transplantation, have had worldwide impact by boosting survival rates from nearly zero to upwards of 85 percent for some blood cancers.
Our goal now is to build on these accomplishments to develop lifesaving options for all patients with serious blood diseases — options that are free of painful side effects and can be performed without the need for hospitalization. Patients already are benefiting from these innovative new therapies. And through our Leukemia, Lymphoma and Blood Diseases Initiative, we're pushing these advances even further.
Many of the most significant advances in the treatment of leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases began here at the Hutchinson Center. These pave the way for the future of cancer care.
Mini-transplants deliver big results for more patients
We have developed a milder blood stem-cell transplant that relies on the power of donor immune cells to fight cancer and eliminates the need for painful chemotherapy and radiation. The mini-transplant typically involves no hospitalization and is extremely successful for treating older patients with blood cancers who are unable to tolerate chemotherapy and radiation. At the Hutchinson Center, we're testing the procedure's effectiveness in children as well as young women who wish to preserve their fertility.
Harnessing the immune system to fight cancer
Our Nobel Prize-winning work on bone-marrow transplantation revealed the remarkable cancer-fighting power of the immune system. Today, we lead a revolutionary new field called immunotherapy that yields powerful cancer treatments with far fewer side effects than conventional drugs, radiation or surgery. This innovative approach uses antibodies called T-cells that deliver chemotherapy and radiation directly to cancer cells. It also includes cutting-edge vaccines to stimulate the immune system to fight cancer relapse.
Preventing relapse and predicting prognosis
We were the first to develop a molecular test to detect cancer recurrence that is sensitive enough to find one blood-cancer cell among a million normal cells — an accomplishment that saves lives. This test allows doctors to quickly prescribe new therapy at the first hint of possible relapse. We're developing similar tests that can predict a patient's response to treatment so that doctors can customize therapy and ensure the best chances for survival.
Cord-blood transplants extend lifesaving options to more patients
About a third of all blood-cancer patients who could benefit from a transplant are unable to find a compatible donor, a number that is much higher for patients with rare tissue types or who are of mixed ethnicity. We're pioneering new transplants based on umbilical-cord blood, which does not need to be as stringently matched to a patient's tissue type as other sources of blood stem cells.
Quality of life counts
We house the world's leading long-term follow-up program for blood-cancer patients, which provides outstanding ongoing medical and psychosocial support for the unique needs of transplant survivors. The program's research has yielded major reductions in complications following treatment and helps survivors adjust to life after cancer therapy.
Every day brings us closer to new discoveries that will benefit more blood-cancer patients like Steve Ross — and private donations are essential to our progress.
To learn more about how you can support the Hutchinson Center's Leukemia, Lymphoma and Blood Diseases Initiative, please visit the Center's Web site at www.fhcrc.org/donating/support or call (206) 667-4399 or (800) 279-1618.
