Visit to Beth Israel and
Blood and Bone Marrow Donor Drive in Maureen’s memory.
On June 7 Emma and I went in to Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center (BIDMC) to visit with some of the staff. It was a moving experience to go back to
where Maureen had spent so much time being treated for leukemia. We visited 7 Feldberg (the hospital floor
where Maureen was a patient) and the two clinic areas, Shapiro and
Stoneman. Julie Mitchell, one of the
nurses who Maureen and our family became very close to, came in on her day off. We also spent a good deal of time with Sam
(Maureen’s admitting nurse on December 16, 2014 and who, with Julie, was caring
for Maureen the day that she passed. We
also spent a good deal of time with Dr. Matt Weinstock, who cared for Maureen
as a fellow and will become an attending physician in August.
We also attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new
center that Dr. Avigan (Maureen’s attending physician) leads. In addition to caring for patients, Dr.
Avigan is developing revolutionary new therapies for fighting cancer using the
patient’s own immune system. For those
of you who have generously given to the tribute fund, this is where the money
is going. This center will be leading a
collaboration of major medical centers throughout the country in developing a
way to vaccinate cancer patients. The
method fuses a sample of the patent’s dendritic cells (the “teacher” immune
cells, so I’m told) with a sample of the patient’s cancer cells to develop a
vaccine that is readmitted to the patient to teach their immune system to
attack the cancer. It has shown success
in a number of patients and the program with the other cancer centers currently
has hundreds of patients enrolled.
Finally, we have set the date for a blood and bone marrow
registry drive for Tuesday, September 26 Saint Michael’s Parish Center in North
Andover. During her two years of
treatment, Maureen received hundreds of units of blood products (mainly
platelets and also red blood cells) and she also received one stem cell
infusion from a donor in Germany as well as two lymphocyte infusions. We are working with Saint Michael Parish, the
American Red Cross and Be the Match. The
drive will run from 2 until 7 pm. Volunteers
are needed. And I’d especially like to
get some volunteers who are medical professionals.
Finally, I’d like to thank the Guggenbergers, Panos’,
Poleretzky’s and Turks, who hosted a beautiful BBQ for my 40th
birthday (some people will tell you it’s my 60th, but I’m told that
60 is the new 40 J! Fortunately, the weather was great. It was a really wonderful evening that I will
always remember. We even had an accordion
player playing “Happy Birthday”! There
was a roast as well, and I hope that no one believes some of the less
flattering stories you might have heard of my past!
Thank you all.
Jim
