Blood and Marrow Transplant Reunion returns to Fred Hutch

Diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, at the age of 36, Smith’s tumultuous search for a cure was national news in 1989 with newspapers, magazines and even a television show covering his appeals for a bone marrow donor, the discovery of a 100% match and that person’s eventual decision not to donate.

ABC’s “The Home Show” and their camera crew even followed Smith through the autologous transplant — a transplant that used his own blood stem cells, rather than a donor’s — that he eventually underwent.

“An autologous transplant had a much lesser chance of survival than if I had a donor, but it was my only chance,” said Smith in a phone interview before the event. “My own bone marrow, which was harvested while in remission, was treated with high-dose chemotherapy and then infused. I was literally rescued by my own bone marrow.”

Smith said his doctors weren’t certain the transplant alone would give him long-term survival, so they advised him to undergo an experimental treatment with interferon weeks after his transplant.

“It was a 10-day process and was more grueling than the transplant, but it worked,” he said.

Eventually, he returned home to California, where he had to rebuild his law firm, along with the muscle and weight he’d lost to illness. But the transplant and follow-up treatment were successful; his leukemia was completely gone.

“When I came back from Seattle, I had to get my weight back, go to the gym, work out, and I still I do that now,” he said. “And I have not had a serious health problem since then. I got my life back.”

Transplantation evolution over time

Hundreds of thousands of others have also regained their lives since bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants were shown to cure certain types of blood cancer by replacing the patient’s immune system with that of a healthy (related or unrelated) donor.

“When I first came to Fred Hutch, there were very few transplants being performed,” said Dr. Fred Appelbaum, holder of the Metcalfe Family/Frederick Appelbaum Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, in his introduction to a dozen virtual workshops held throughout the day. “Today, over 100,000 bone marrow transplants are performed annually worldwide.”

Appelbaum shared some of the tremendous progress Hutch scientists have made over the years in making transplants safer and less prone to complications or long-term side effects like graft-vs.-host-disease, a common result of transplants where the immune system that arises from the transplanted blood stem cells mistakenly “fights” the patient’s own tissues.

“Forty-five years ago, we could only do transplants for about a third of our patients,” Appelbaum said. “Now, we can find a donor for just about everyone who needs a transplant. We have 40 million people typed and entered into donor registries. We’ve developed regimens for older patients. And we’ve remarkably reduced the risks posed to our patients by infections.”

The online workshops — led by Hutch hematologists, oncologists, infectious disease experts, nutritionists and others — covered everything from cognitive issues brought on by treatment; to scientific findings from the Hutch’s Long-Term Follow-Up program; to healthy eating and exercise; and to the use of alternative treatments like cannabis.  

Celebrating survival safely

Most attendees were there to celebrate their reclaimed lives, which they did at festive outdoor tables replete with food, drink, family, friends and memories. Beaming patients hugged doctors and nurses not seen in years amid tears and laughter, while grandchildren some assumed they’d never meet munched on corn dog bites and chased after balloons.

Fred Hutch President and Director Dr. Thomas J. Lynch Jr. , observing the nearly 250 patients and family members gathered in the Hutch’s Mundie Courtyard, called the in-person reunion, postponed by the pandemic for two years, a “celebration of survival” and an “absolutely spectacular event that I could totally get used to.”

Lynch went on to outline recent events at the Hutch — from the opening of the Steam Plant, “a terrific facility for innovation;” to a soon-to-be-released book on the history of bone marrow transplantation by Appelbaum; to the Hutch’s recent merger with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to provide a more seamless translational research and clinical care experience for patients.

Physician-scientist Dr. Stephanie Lee, holder of the David and Patricia Giuliani/Oliver Press Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, took the stage to honor the longtime medical director of the Long-Term Follow-Up Program, Dr. Mary Flowers, sharing news of Flowers’ impending retirement later this year. This prompted an appreciative standing ovation from the crowd.

The diminutive Flowers, whom Lee referred to as “small but mighty,” spoke of the giants of the transplant program with whom she worked, Thomas and Dr. John Hansen, as well as the many others who’ve helped patients over the years.

“Fred Hutch started with the idea that you could cure cancer with a bone marrow transplant,” she said. “And I have been blessed to have known the founder of this idea — Dr. Thomas, my first attending physician when I started. His legacy continues not only here in this country but all over the world.”

“It truly takes a village,” she said. “And this is a celebration of our village.”

From pediatric patient to doctor

Flowers also took a moment to introduce pediatric transplant survivor Dr. Juliana Lanza Neves, whom she treated 30 years ago. A native of Brazil, as is Flowers, Neves now works as a pediatric oncologist at a cancer center in her home country. She attended the reunion with her father, who was her bone marrow donor, and with her husband.

“In Brazil, I am a doctor,” she said in an interview before the event. “But in Seattle, I am a survivor. This moment is very important to me.”

Keynote speaker Smith, who attended with his wife, their three sons and several grandchildren, also talked of how important the moment was for him and the rest of the survivors in attendance.