Things are moving steady in St Louis. I don’t see much more than the view from my window at the Barnes&Jewish hospital, but Susana tells me it’s a nice mid-size city where it’s easy to move around for shopping and daily chores. People are friendly and the weather is quite mild so far.
We already rented a nice apartment ( with visitors room) and brought our car from San Francisco so we are ready to spend here several months for the pre-transplant, transplant and outpatient period ( when I’m out of hospital but need to be really close in case complications happen).
As I mentioned in my last post, we are doing a special treatment ( Natural Killer Cells) that could maximise my chances before the transplant. As always with experimental treatments nothing is guaranteed and we’ll “cross fingers” that it does the job.
For this NKC treatment I had the support of my sister Ana who came all th way from Spain and spent several days with us going through a battery of tests from the Barnes&Jewish team. They confirmed she is a good donor for NKC so we moved ahead.
So on Tuesday this week I received the NKC cells she was extracted over several hours the day before. What a GREAT XMAS PRESENT!!
Again, this is an experimental treatment and it may not work at all but it feels great be supported and taken care by family and friends.
Over the next weeks we’ll know more about the results and this treatment and the preparation for transplant in January.
Meanwhile, Happy Holidays to everyone wherever you are around the world and PLEASE enjoy every moment with your loved ones. It’s precious and unique!!
Reflections from Paradise 
That sounds very hopeful JJ. How wonderful to have your sister there for you and able to help in such a real way. HappyChristmas and best of luck with the latest treatment!
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Go team JJ! Excellent that Ana was a good match. Thinking of you all. x
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Hey JJ – Merry Christmas from the UK. Sending lots of love to you, Susana and Ana and praying those natural killer cells get to work on the pesky naughty cells ASAP.
Kxx
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A por todas y mas alla super JJ y Susana! Fuerte abrazo desde Madrid. Os queremos!
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Felices Fiestas y un fuerte abrazo¡ May the force be with you!
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Vamos JJ, a por todas!!! Estamos contigo. Un besazo enorme guapísimo
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Merry Christmas JJ. I am sure it will work, best of luck and god bless you!
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JJ – let us go into the new year full of hope and that it becomes the year of fast recovery! Best wishes for the remainder of the fewtive season
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Hi JJ,
As always, great to have the latest news and see you smiling in the picture. What a marathon you are running! Soon the finish line.
The other day, the children talked about you and your great big paella dish. You made quite an impression, and we are looking forward to the next one !
Big hug to both of you and hope to see you soon
Bruno
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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Gracias por seguir brillando y continuar enseñándonos. Muchos ánimos y toda la fuerza del mundo.
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JJ, impresionado cada vez que nos das una lección de fortaleza, espíritu combativo y solidario, adelante y a por todas! Este será un Feliz 2016!
Un abrazo muy fuerte!
Iñaki
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Hi JJ , I read about this treatment a few weeks ago and was used for advanced prostate cancer patients. It had a very high success rate for them even though the test group was small but very encouraging so fingers crossed. If anyone can do this its you !
Shane ( continuing to survive)
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