Category: Uncategorized

Here’s an update to last week’s call for blood and/or platelet donation for Nathanael Sandstrom, a young (well, my age) man suffering from lymphoma at Sloan-Kettering in NYC. It’s from his wife, and was passed to me via my pal Elayne, who first sent out the call to all VM friends:

A bit of good news: it seems that the doctors have a dignosis and treatment that they feel confident about. Last week, a new doctor came on the case and suggested histiocytosis as the bone marrow disease that has been keeping Nathanael’s blood counts so low and making him so sick for so long. Histiocytosis is an extremely rare condition, usually found in children, in which histiocytes attack white blood cells and platelets. There have only been 2 cases at MSK in the last 10+ years that our doctor is aware of, and so she consults with the authority who is based in Houston. Apparently (in Nate’s case) the disease results somehow from the original lymphoma.

The 8-week treatment for it (combination of steroids, antibiotics, and a new chemotherapy) has been working, albeit slowly, and so Nathanael has been feeling and seeming much better. In the last few months he’s lost a huge amount of weight and most of his muscle mass, so he’s now focused on rehabing his body. If the trend of the treatment stays positive, he may be able to leave the hospital within the next couple of weeks for an outpatient period. After that, he’ll need to go back in for a bone marrow transplant to replace his immune system. That transplant will be used to ultimately defeat the histiocytosis but also to consolidate the treatment for the original cancer.

This sounds like a lot and it is, and so Nate is just looking forward to getting strong enough to be out of the hospital for a little while.

We are deeply thankful to everyone who has donated blood or platelets here in NY; friends, family, colleagues, and people we’ve never even met but who make the trip and the effort on Nate’s behalf. We are deeply moved.

And thanks to everyone for notes, calls, thoughts and prayers, which sustain us on a daily basis.

Onward. xoxo

It’s your opportunity for a mitzvah, dear readers! My pal Elayne has asked me to put out word for any of you who are in the NYC/NJ area to help out her friend who’s battling lymphoma. He needs blood and/or platelets, so I hope you’ll help out, if you’re able. If you’re not able, but you know someone in the NYC/NJ area who is, please pass this along. All details are in Elayne’s request below, with a followup note from her friend’s wife.

Note: this request does not apply to my readers who are

1. cancer survivors,
2. gay users of intravenous drugs, or
   
3. British.

* * *

Gil,

My close friend Nathanael is at Sloan-Kettering in NYC undergoing a very trying battle with lymphoma. Is there any way you and Amy could link the following into your blogs? Any donor type is acceptable, and the platelets are directly sent to Nate, with any leftovers going to other needy patients. Thanks in advance. A note from Nate’s wife follows. Nate is 38 years old, with a four-year-old daughter, Ava.

Love,

Elayne

———-

NATHANAEL SANDSTROM Needs Blood & Platelets

Nathanael is currently a patient at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. His treatment for lymphoma requires regular blood and platelet transfusions.

Nathanael, his wife Laura and family would deeply appreciate your donation of blood and/or platelets and hopes you will ask others you know to donate. Donations not used by Nathanael will be released for use by other patients many of whom are children.

Designated donations for Nathanael must be made in the Blood Donor Room of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Please visit www.mskcc.org/blooddonations for complete information about donor eligibility and the donation process for blood or platelets.

For answers to questions and to schedule an appointment that is convenient for you please CALL:

Mary Thomas @ 212-639-3335

Coordinator, Blood Donor Program

thomasfm@mskcc.org

or call the Blood Donor Room at 212-639-7648

Appointments are necessary

The Blood Donor Room Is Open Every Day

Fri Sat Sun Mon: 8:30am – 3:00pm

Tues Wed Thu: 8:30am – 7:00pm

1250 First Avenue (between 67th/68th Streets) NYC – Schwartz Building lobby

FREE parking is available for donors at our garage 433 East 66th Street corner of York Avenue.

The process for donating whole blood takes approximately 1 hour.

The process for donating platelets takes about 2.5 hours.

All blood types are acceptable

———————

Update from Laura:

Thank you in advance to all who are able to do this. Nathanael’s condition, still undiagnosed, is unchanged at best, with his mental state steadily worsening (from depression, drugs, side effects, and the perpetual unknown). Doctors continue to focus on the bone marrow and potential diseases within as explanations for non-generation of cells, and also on the spleen as a potential destroyer of blood cells, though depending on who’s talking, that spleen theory is debatable. In any case, this is why he receives daily transfusions, which is why they are doing the blood drive.

No one is yet able to explain why any of this secondary problem is happening; it may be caused by the chemotherapy that destroyed the tumors, or by an as-yet unproven spread of the lymphoma, or by an independent factor. One thing that everyone agrees on is that nearly everything about it is “extremely rare.”

We are so sad and scared, and appreciate your help so much.

–Laura