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 40^th birthday (some people will tell you it’s my 60^th, 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