I am Charlene. I live in Seattle with my husband John. I was diagnosed with Acute Myelomonocytic Leukemia (AML) on April 4th 1989. It is a day that I'll never forget. A lot has happened since that day. I was treated with Chemotherapy, lost my hair three different times, and was sick for the better part of 1 1/2 years. I was supposed to get a bone marrow transplant but my body responded so well to the chemo that I went into remission right away and never did need to get the transplant. It is still an option should the Leukemia ever come back. I am very lucky to already have my donor picked out. My donor is my little sister Kimberly who is a perfect match to me.
I don't know how exactly but I knew that I would survive this very scary ordeal. I always felt like I was the lucky one. Everything went right for me right from the start. I'm not saying it was easy but I fought to live and with the prayers and support of my family and friends I did pull through and survived.
I now have found a new family on the internet in the chat room #cancer-survivors, where you can find me almost every evening. Come on in and meet the family. They are a great bunch of people. Also you can e-mail me at seims@ix.netcom.com.
