Ricardo Gomez Gets Second Chance at Life

 

Bone marrow transplant recipient Ricardo Gomez is healthy and happy to be back at school.

 

 

In the summer of 1995, an athletic Ricardo Gomez was feeling fatigued and weak, losing 20 pounds in three months. Thinking he was just out of shape, Gomez was shocked to learn that he had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

 

"When I realized I had cancer, I couldn't believe it," recalls Gomez, who lives in La Blanca, Texas. "I didn't know what to think."

 

Suddenly Gomez' future seemed uncertain.

 

That feeling of uncertainty, however, would later turn to hope of a bright future. After initially undergoing numerous rounds of chemotherapy at M. D. Anderson and then in his hometown for more than a year, Gomez received a bone marrow transplant on Oct. 18, 1996.

 

"I was very excited about getting the transplant, though I knew there was a slight risk since it wasn't a perfect match," Gomez says. "I am very grateful that a donor came forward and was willing to go the distance, to go through the testing and provide the marrow."

 

That donor was Chrysta Carlin, a Hispanic woman who registered with The National Marrow Donor Program just a few months prior to Gomez' diagnosis in 1995, after learning about the need for more minority donors.

 

Carlin's match with Gomez illustrates the need for more minorities to register as marrow donors because a patient's best match outside the immediate family is someone of the same racial or ethnic group.

 

Gomez was one of several hundred patients at M. D. Anderson who benefitted from blood and marrow transplantations last year. As one of the largest blood and marrow transplantation centers in the world, specialists in the cancer center's Hematology Center offer comprehensive services, including autologous (use of patient's own peripheral blood or marrow) and allogeneic (use of blood or marrow from a compatible donor who may or may not be a relative) transplants.

 

Thanks to his transplant, Gomez is "feeling great," and is eager to get on with his life. He currently works part time managing a western wear store and has resumed studies at The University of Texas-Pan American.

 

Gomez says the wonderful care and support he received throughout his treatment has inspired him to change his major from education to nursing so "I can help others get through their cancer experience and give them hope that they, too, can beat the disease."

 

"Ricardo is doing very well," says Dr. Donna Przepiorka, associate professor of medicine. "The bone marrow transplant was about the only option remaining for him, since a second recurrence of the leukemia failed to respond to two types of treatment. It's great to see him feeling better, working and going to school."

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