Benny Britton

Friday, November 2, 2012.....a brand new day!!  Daddy received his 2nd stem cell transplant and had a new birthday!  We are praying that the baby cells go forth and multiply.  Praising God for the medical research that made this day possible....and we are still praying for a cure for this horrible disease!


As many of you know, Dad was diagnosed in early July, 2008, with multiple myeloma and acute renal failure. Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cell. The myeloma caused severe injury to the kidneys, which resulted in the kidneys not functioning properly. As a result of the kidney failure, Dad undergoes dialysis 3 times a week. He has also undergone 3 cycles of the chemo drug Velcade as a treatment of the myeloma. He responded very well to the chemo, with the myeloma currently considered in remission. He was scheduled to start the process to receive a stem cell transplant in early November. He is considered a good candidate to donate stem cells to himself. This is a process that takes several weeks to prepare for and several months to recover from. However, in the meantime, he became very ill from the chemo and the transplant was postponed temporarily. On September 25, he suffered from several seizures and spent 4 days in the hospital, with no confirmed diagnosis. After a few days at home, he returned to the hospital, again with no real reason for his weakness. He was in the hospital 4 days that time. When he had been home for about 10 days, he became very altered and started hallucinating. We brought him back to the hospital and he was diagnosed serotonin syndrome. He was on several medications that caused a toxic rise in the serotonin level in his brain. The only way to fix that was to take him off all his meds and make him detox. That has been a very difficult process, since his kidneys are unable to help with the cleansing process. He has been very altered and very emotional. We are hopeful, since the doctors assure us this is completely reversible. We are so grateful to our family and friends for their prayers and support. We will use this tool as a means to keep you updated. God bless you all!!!