new leukemia treatment

I read about a new treatment against leukemia yesterday. It uses altered HIV cells and has shown some success. Here's the link. I immediately thought of my dear friend Erik, whom I lost to leukemia when I was in college. To say Erik had been my best friend would be too simple, I miss him. I will always miss him. He had a great smile and wicked sense of humor. I hope this new treatment is able to save so many suffering from cancer. I can't help but think, why couldn't they have had this treatment when he was still fighting against cancer? Would it have helped?

I admired his courage when into his 3rd bout of chemo he decided to stop all treatments and go home to prepare to die. I'm thankful we had that time. That last night we were laughing and joking. I knew he was in pain and I felt so useless and hopeless. We were laughing about something and I was holding him when he passed. So many years later and I can still cry over that moment. After the funeral I went right over to my husband's house (we were dating at the time) and just cried. Some friendships, some losses you never get over. For me, losing Erik is like that-- a wound that's scabbed over but it's still a wound and very much a loss keenly felt even after all this time.

Cancer research and treatments have come a long way since my grandmom died of breast cancer in the late 1970s. It has come a long way since the late 1990s when I lost Erik. It is encouraging to see R&D discover new options for those fighting cancer. I hope those going through cancer treatments fight it and I hope this new treatment gives kids with leukemia a chance to beat it, even when it comes back a third time in their late teens-early adulthood as it did with my friend. I pray those friends going through treatments, especially Meg and Jess, know we pray for them every night and continue to hope that their story is a success story.  That's all.