My friend was just diagnosed with AML less than a month ago. She was given 7 days of chemo and just got the results from her bone marrow biopsy which wasn't good. I read that you are an AML survivor and wondered if you might be able to give us the names of Hospital and Dr's that treated you. At this point her prognosis isn't good, but looks like you beat the odds and hopefully she will too. Look forward to hearing from you or anyone else out there that might have some good information to share.

Hi:

My child was diagnosed with AML, underwent extensive chemo, a bone marrow transplant, had GVHD [a transplant/rejection problem] and is now fine. This is a very long and very rough ride ahead of your friend, her family and her friends.

The best cancer hospitals and treatment centers also tend to be the top research and teaching hospitals, such as Johns Hopkins, Fred Hutchison, M.D. Anderson, etc. There are other hospitals that are probably as good but happen to be less well known. You can identify a good prospect by looking up the NCI or NIH cancer clinical trials. The best cancer hospitals are always involved in several cancer clinical trials simultaneously. Because your friend has AML, it's equally important that the hospital treating her AML also has an excellent track record in doing bone marrow transplants and in diagnosing and treating GVHD [Graft Versus Host Disease].
http://www.nci.nih.gov/

Something that you may want to know about AML - the five year survival rate is much higher for people who have a bone marrow [or peripheral blood stem cell] transplant. Your friend will need to find a "match" [donor]. Call or look up the Bone Marrow Foundation or the National Bone Marrow Registry for more information about this.

Good luck,
Jay

Jay, I am so happy to hear your child is doing well afer treatment. Thanks so much for your reply. I will research the website you gave me. They are already looking for bone marrow donors. Unfortunately her sister didn't match, but she has lots of friends who are willing to be tested. She is at Kaiser right now just finishing her 2nd round of chemo. Her husband was very cautious about moving her as he didn't want her to miss chemo by moving to a new hospital and dealing with all the paperwork, while wasting precious time. Hopefully that will be a possibility at a later date. Thanks again for your reply!