PATRICIA MULLINS

Patricia Mullins was teaching high school math when breast cancer was diagnosed in the spring of 1994. After surgery and chemotherapy, she began preparing for a blood stem cell transplant that her doctors at M. D. Anderson thought would give her an extra edge in overcoming the disease. Stem cells from her own blood were removed, manipulated in the laboratory and, following high-dose chemotherapy, reinfused in an autologous transplant performed in early 1995.

 

Mullins credits her faith, family members (husband John, daughter Cori and son Philip) and "all those wonderful people at M. D. Anderson" for giving her a second chance for a full life. Today, she teaches homebound students in the La Porte Independent School District and tells other transplant candidates, "The whole process was hard but well worth it."