Prayers For a Friend

Pattie and Pat Killingsworth

http://multiplemyelomablog.com/2015/07/did-all-of-this-really-happen-in-one-day.html

This is a link to a friend, Pat, who is also battling Multiple Myeloma. Stevan and I discovered his blog when Stevan was in the hospital being diagnosed. Pat was going through his first stem cell transplant. That was four years ago.

Over the years, I have been able to talk to pat via phone and email, to get suggestions on what to ask Stevan's doctors on how to proceed with his care. Pat has written four books on Myeloma, which I had purchased and loaned out to another friend, Barbara C., who we became acquainted with who lives in our home town who was diagnosed with Myeloma and was going to Stevan's doctor and underwent a stem cell transplant also. She ended up opting for a tandem transplant (a second one soon after the first) and developed an infection in her blood which ended her life.

When Stevan had his transplant, he had a pretty easy go of it. But he was young, relative healthy and other than developing an infection from his metal in his arm and having to take Vancomycin for several weeks. So these transplants are dangerous and can come with a cost.

I got to meet Pat and his wife Pattie, in March, face to face, at their Multiple Myeloma Beach Party. Pat had been a life line for me and Stevan, giving us so much information and blogging about his experiences and what he has learned over the years since he was diagnosed in 2007. I felt like I was long lost friends who finally got to meet them. It was the last night of the Party that Pat gave us the news that his doctors said that there wasn't much else to do for his Myeloma and that there was a chance that he might not be there next year for the third annual Beach Party. I felt like I had been punched....  It was like hearing I was loosing Stevan all over again.

Last week Pat underwent his second transplant and has not only developed one infection, but apparently several. He is a fighter. I ask that my prayer warrior pray for him and his wife as they go through this trial. He has given his life to help other Myeloma patients and caregiver understand this cancer and this community still needs him to continue his work.

Thank you