Resources

Survivors' Guide for Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant
What to Expect and How to Get Through It

Beyond the Transplant

Regardless of how long or how difficult the transplant process is for you, it is important to remember you can return to a normal and active lifestyle posttransplant. Survivors often report that the quality of their lives post-transplant is similar to or better than before the transplant. Others have some lingering effects, but do not experience significant deterioration in quality of life. A small number of people suffer from more significant handicaps resulting in the need to change their profession or to cease working altogether.

Although people are affected differently by the transplant, everyone, without exception, is changed as a result of the experience. Through the transplant, we are forced to look at ourselves and at our lives. We will inevitably suffer losses and hopefully also gain new strength and insights. Many of those who responded to the questionnaire reported a greater resilience and a greater appreciation for life. Here are some of the ways that people have come to view the world posttransplant: I see life differently post-transplant. Being stuck in a hospital room for three months made me realize that even in the most confined and restrained settings, I can find joy and pleasure. I now know that the well-springs of joy are largely within me, and not only in the external environment.

Transplant has affected my life in so many ways … both good and bad. I feel like I just played a game of pick-up-sticks with my life and all the sticks are all over the place—some pieces are new, some are missing and some are the same … I still face my fears and issues but I am thankful to be alive and feel my experience has been a gift in many ways. I just try to live life one day at a time and be in the moment with whatever I am experiencing.

I live my life differently. I don’t sweat the small stuff and worry about things I cannot change. The serenity prayer says it all [God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference]. I’m also more in tune to what I want out of life... .

I try to live each day to its fullest and take one day at a time. There are so many people that live in the fast lane and think there will always be a tomorrow. I know how fast all of that can be taken away. I don’t take things for granted anymore. I tell the people I love and care about how much they mean to me everyday.

Through the transplant, I have suffered many losses--lost fertility, lost friends, lost time--but I have also uncovered many treasures, gained invaluable insights and have become a happier, more hopeful person and more loving person.

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