My name is Jerome. I am 32 years old, married with three children. I came to the hospital about two weeks ago because my leg was very painful and swollen. The surgeon operated on the leg and found it filled with blood and a tumor. For many days it continued to bleed and the surgeon found it filled with clots of blood. I was given many transfusions-so many I have lost count. The surgeon told me that he might have to remove my whole leg at the hip. The doctors also found that my blood had a sickness with very high white cell count (225,000). One of the doctors sent a picture of my blood smear to a blood specialist in America. From the story, this doctor says that I probably have a type of blood cancer called Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. The doctors have given me some medicine to treat this. While I have been here the Chaplain has prayed for me and my family. I am praising God because the bleeding has stopped and I am able to be sent home tomorrow.
note: In the U.S. Jerome's illness would be treated very successfully with a wonder drug called Gleevec which costs $10,000 a month. Another older chemotherapy called Hydrea can stabilize but not cure the illness. Jerome is being treated with the only chemotherapy that we have available to us, Cytoxan. Thankfully, someone is sending some Hydrea to Togo for Jerome. Please pray for Jerome and his family.
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