Mel Mann, Patient Advocate, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Survivor, shared on LinkedIn:
“This is World Leukemia Day.
This coming January, I will celebrate 32 years of survival.
When I was diagnosed with terminal leukemia in January 1995, my only hope at the time was a bone marrow transplant.
I organized and took part in numerous bone marrow donor drives and watched friends, family, members of the military community, and strangers step forward to help. One of those drives alone resulted in more than 10,000 people being tested.
Despite those extraordinary efforts, I never found a bone marrow donor. But my story did not end there.
In 1998, I entered an early clinical trial for a drug then known as STI571, later called Gleevec.
Gleevec helped usher in the dawn of targeted cancer treatment. By targeting the specific molecular abnormality driving chronic myeloid leukemia, it demonstrated a revolutionary new approach to treating cancer and helped provide the blueprint for precision medicine.
For me, however, clinical research was never just a scientific concept. It was personal. It gave me an option when my options had run out. It gave me a future I wasn’t sure I would have.
And this coming January, that future reaches 32 years. That is why I believe so deeply in the power – and the continued need – for clinical research.
Every breakthrough begins with questions. Every clinical trial depends on people willing to participate. And every advance has the potential to change the future for someone facing a diagnosis today.
On World Leukemia Day, I celebrate the extraordinary progress that has been made against leukemia while remembering that there is still so much work to do.
I also think about the person who is hearing the words ‘you have leukemia’ today. My hope is that continued investment in science and clinical research will ensure they have more options, more hope, and a better future.
I never found the donor we searched for. But I found a miracle nevertheless.”
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