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Valenzuela gets bone marrow match, will undergo transplant surgery

By Brian Gomez

Nearly two years after being diagnosed with cancer, Kyrene Corridor resident Frankie Valenzuela finally has reason to smile when following his doctor’s orders, some of which now consist of flying airplanes, ice skating and eating  like a king.

The former Corona del Sol High School student found a bone marrow match last month, providing new hope "and more than a few splurges" in his ongoing fight to combat the acute myeloid leukemia that has severely depleted his immune system.

Assuming that all goes well during a week filled with screenings and tests, Valenzuela will undergo a bone marrow transplant Aug. 11 at Good Samaritan Medical Center.

“It’s a big sigh of relief,” said Valenzuela, who had seriously contemplated subjecting himself to an experimental surgery that would have taken place in Duarte, Calif.

“I’m relieved that I’m not going to be like a guinea pig and I’m relieved that it’s going to be here in Phoenix. We didn’t really want to go back and forth between California and here.”

Doctors are prohibited from revealing the identity of Valenzuela’s bone marrow match, but said it most likely came from a Hispanic male. About 450 people gave blood in late June during drives held at two Phoenix churches and an estimated 50 others did the same at various United Blood Services locations across the Valley.

Having discovered six potential matches, doctors narrowed the pool to four until they found one that could be used for a bone marrow transplant. If those four matches weren’t compatible, the experimental procedure seemed imminent, given Valenzuela’s vulnerability to infection.

Valenzuela is scheduled to have his teeth closely examined next week so doctors can make sure he doesn’t have any cavities that could create problems after the transplant. He’ll then have a catheter inserted into a large blood vessel that runs directly to his heart, enabling medicine and antibiotics to instantly reach his weakened immune system.

After Valenzuela’s existing marrow is removed, new marrow from the donor will be injected into his body during a procedure that takes only 20 minutes. Valenzuela will then undergo three days of high-dose chemotherapy and two days of full-body radiation as he waits for the new marrow to take form.

“The most exciting part is watching the new stem cells thaw at the side of your bed,” Valenzuela said. “I’ll have basically no immune system whatsoever. The radiation will kill my taste buds, so I won’t be able to taste anything.”

Even if the bone marrow transplant goes according to plan, Valenzuela will be far from out of the woods. Most leukemia patients are susceptible to graft-versus-host disease, a complication in which a person’s white blood cells inadvertently attack the immune system.

Valenzuela will be hospitalized for at least five weeks following the procedure, allowing doctors to closely monitor his condition.

His taste buds are expected to come back shortly thereafter, but he probably won’t be able to fly planes with his girlfriend or enjoy steak dinners with his family for quite a while.

“They want to get the ball rolling,” Valenzuela said. “I’ve got to go live it up, but they said nothing really crazy.”

Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@wranglernews.com or visit him online at http://sundevils.freeyellow.com/briangomez.html.

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