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On May 17, 2018, my best friend, soul mate, father of our two boys and loyal friend to many, Lieutenant Eric Litchfield, was diagnosed with MDS (on his 47th b'day). There are many types of MDS, Eric's type is Myelodysplastic syndrome with multilineage dysplasia. Basically, it's a blood cancer. Eric's red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelet counts are dangerously low. The only cure for this cancer is a bone marrow transplant. You can read more about this at:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/myelodysplastic-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20366977 We are often asked if Eric had symptoms and the answer is, only tiredness, but hey, we're married with children and over forty, who isn't tired? Eric went in for a routine blood test on our way out of town for what was going to be fun, short, get-away. Before we even made it to our destination, Eric's doctor called him and instructed him to go to the ER. His blood counts were dangerously low.
Eric will need anywhere from 3 to 7 weeks of chemotherapy for his type of cancer and several biopsies in between. He started his first round of chemo today and will get daily injections with intermittent breaks every five days. After chemo is completed, with the grace of God, he will be in remission and will need a bone marrow transplant ASAP.
Eric's Timeline:
1. Chemo starts in May of 2018 and should end the end of August 2018.
2. We will be organizing a bone marrow drive. Date to be announced.
3. Eric will be hospitalized in Oakland for a final round of chemo
4. Eric will be moved to Stanford Hospital where he will receive the bone marrow transplant. He will not be able to leave Stanford for 90 days.
5. If all goes well, we could expect Eric to be coming home January 2019.
