42 cancer fighters thrive | spring 2014
cf thrive. com
SPECIAL FEATURE
Stem Cell
Transplantation
By Laurie Wertich
W
hen Stephen Hook underwent an autologous
stem cell transplant to treat Hodgkin's lym-
phoma, the procedure took about 20 minutes.
"I thought: That's it? Really? " he recalls.
Perhaps it was anticlimactic because Stephen had read many dis-
couraging accounts online when he researched the procedure. In
fact, the stories were so dismal that Stephen was initially inclined
to refuse the procedure. "I said, 'To heck with it. I'm not going
through that,'" recalls the recently married 38-year-old from Ashe-
ville, New York. "I decided I would just enjoy the time I had left."
But before he made a fnal decision, Stephen decided to get one
more opinion—at Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA)
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That visit changed everything. "Dr.
[Pamela] Crilley and Dr. [David] Topolsky told me everything
they could about the procedure," Stephen recalls. "They didn't
hide anything. They were honest. They told me the chemo might
be rough—but they made it sound doable."
Stephen underwent the transplant on August 29, 2013, and went
home on September 20. "The whole process—from chemo to
transplant—was really bearable," he says. "It was nothing like what
I read online."
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