EX - PATIENTS

And here I am!

 Ana María Aramayo

 A little over seventeen years ago I was diagnosed with leukaemia! I think that that was the worst day of my life. “A tough treatment and possibly two more years of life,” was what I was told I could look forward to at that moment. For several years, I lived in constant anxiety; it was a constant round of chemotherapy, unceasing visits to doctors, frequent blood tests. After all this, I went through a different period, one devoted to the transplant, the cure! Let me share something of this with you…

 One afternoon I had to go to the lab to collect the results of my latest blood test, something which had become part of my day-to-day life. What was different on that occasion was that I was to learn that I was no longer in remission, but that instead, the leukaemia was back!

 “The only option is a bone marrow transplant,” I remember clearly the way in which the doctor offered the alternative. He also told me that he could not take charge of the process himself, and that he knew that Dr. Roberto Ovilla had started doing transplants. It took me a whole year to make up my mind. Having to choose between life and death may sound easy, but it is not. In the end, my reasoning was simple: “If I don’t do anything, I shall die anyway.” However, I insist that coming to a final conclusion was not easy. What did happen was that I suddenly felt that all the bits and pieces of the puzzle which made up my life had started to come together into one harmonious whole: three out of my four brothers and sisters were compatible donors - one of them, Pepe, who lived in Mexico was almost 100% compatible with me; the National Health System had given a green light for my transplant and Dr. Ovilla happened to work there; my office had temporarily released me from all working duties; and most important of all, I could count on the unconditional support of my family, Gregorio my husband, Andrés and Pilar my children, my parents, brothers and sisters – most of them not living in Mexico – were with me, determined to do whatever was necessary to help.

 And so it happened that I had the transplant on 27 January, 1992. At 9.00 in the morning, Dr. Ovilla came into my room at the “Hospital de la Raza”. He was holding a bag containing something that looked like blood, though perhaps a bit thicker and somewhat yellowish in colour. “Here is your life, Ana Maria”, he said. “We have just extracted all this bone marrow from your brother, now we will pass it on to you and you will have a new life.” Estelita, the nurse, placed the bag in such a way that the bone marrow was able to drip into my body via a catheter that had been inserted into me a few days before … and Pepe’s bone marrow started to enter my body. Doctors, nurses, nutriologists, psychologists would look at me. “Are you OK?”, “Do you feel anything strange?”, “How are you?” Were the questions, among others, that I was repeatedly asked…The truth is that I never felt anything other than a strong desire to live!

 I shall never forget the way Dr Ovilla said to me three days afterwards, during one of his morning visits, “One swallow doesn’t make a summer, but there were two white blood cells in your blood count this morning. It seems to me that your bone marrow has started to work.”

 Over thirteen years have passed since then. At the beginning, I felt I had come through the transplant with flying colours, but now, with the benefit of hindsight, I think that the transplant was for me an enormous lesson in life, one which has allowed me to grow emotionally. All this still moves me deeply and I think this will always be the case. It has to do with being born again, but even more than that, it is about being born again and seeing life from a different perspective. I sincerely wish we could all get to this point, without having to go through so much pain.

 Now, I always say that my life is full of “I was able to”: I was able to see my two children turn into two independent, productive and value-oriented human beings; I was able to continue my studies (I did an MA), I was able to go back work; I was able to continue my married life with Gregorio, my lifetime partner; I was able to see Cristina, my dear granddaughter, come to life… I was able, in short, to value life to the full.

 I also say that I have lots be thankful for, many people to thank! However, I find this rather difficult to express, because, in different ways, each and every person who was involved in this experience has been a key to the success of my transplant and to my post-transplant life. I do not think it is possible to say who I am more grateful to, since all played a part in making it happen.

 Now I will leave you. Somehow, I have been able to leave the most painful memories behind me, but I do have one memory that will always live within me: I was given the opportunity to live. To me, this is what is vital - and here I am, to tell the tale!