Richard Durham

As a former college athlete, Richard Durham worked for years to maintain his physical shape and practice good health habits. Customers and colleagues at the car dealership he owned in Hammond, Louisiana, were impressed with his zest for life. Then in the spring of 1990, he "suddenly felt terrible." The diagnosis was chronic myelogenous leukemia.

 

The next few years were a roller-coaster of treatments, including a bone marrow transplant at another cancer center and battling life-threatening complications. In the fall of 1996, he came to M. D. Anderson, where he had a mini-transplant of blood stem cells donated by his older brother Ronald.

 

"I never spent a day in the hospital at M. D. Anderson because everything was done on an outpatient basis," says Durham, who has resumed hunting, fishing and family activities with wife Meredes, six children and five grandchildren.