Before his diagnosis, Thomas spent his career as a nurse, devoting his life to caring for others. In 2024, our family faced a series of life-altering circumstances. Thomas and I had already spent three months as the primary caregivers for his mother, Julie, following her terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis, when, suddenly, Thomas found himself in the patient’s bed. He was diagnosed with mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL). At the time of his diagnosis, his bone marrow was 94% cancer, requiring immediate admission to OHSU for emergency treatment. From day one, The Bloodline podcast was our lifeline; we listened to many episodes to understand this journey, and we have since had the honor of being interviewed twice by Blood Cancer United to share what we've learned.
Our road was a battle against impossible statistics. Recognizing the importance of family time, Thomas’ medical team at OHSU even coordinated a "short-term leave" before his transplant, providing him with necessary white blood cell boosting injections so he could make his mom's dream of a Disney World trip with her sons come true. It was a week of pure magic where we focused on life, not cancer. Shortly after, Thomas underwent an allogeneic stem cell transplant made possible by a generous donor from Germany. Julie eventually outlived her terminal prognosis by an entire year, a testament to her strength and her devotion to her son’s recovery. To turn our pain into purpose, we launched The Brain It On! podcast directly from Thomas’s hospital room during his transplant stay.
However, the battle took a turn just 60 days post-transplant. On Christmas Day, a lumbar puncture confirmed our worst nightmare; Thomas had suffered a relapse of AML in his central nervous system (CNS). Facing single-digit survival odds, Thomas underwent aggressive cranial spinal irradiation and spinal intrathecal chemotherapy. Through every step, our faith in God was our anchor. Today, his medical team identifies him as an "n=1" case; his survival as an MPAL patient with a CNS relapse post-allo SCT is so rare that his reaching the one-year remission mark this February is a historic milestone.
This month, we are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary — a benchmark we once feared we would never see. We are honoring this milestone by moving forward with starting our family through infant adoption and training for the 2027 Walt Disney World Marathon to honor Thomas’s survival and Julie’s memory. We share our story to remind the Blood Cancer United community that even when a relapse happens on Christmas or when you are handed a devastating prognosis, a new season of life and healing is within reach. With our faith in God and an amazing medical team, we discovered all things are possible.
Lindsey
Family member and caregiver
