Cover Story
by Alyssa Brown
"That Christmas we were driving him in every day for radiation."
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After Stem Cell Transplant, Cancer Victim Values Each Day
Bob Stephens' daughter, Amy is the registrar at Multnomah. Bob is living with multiple myeloma and received stem cell treatment in 2002. In this photo Ms. Stephens and student Grant Conley pose for The Voice. --Karissa Clark, photo
After doing some remodeling of a friend's house, Mr. Stephens began complaining of back pain. Six weeks later he was treated by a chiropractor, but the pain wasn't resolved.
His doctor in Cannon Beach sent him to Portland for tests, and Mr. Stephens was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells.
Multiple myeloma multiplies in the blood and bone marrow, making treatment especially challenging.
If the cancer hadn't manifested itself in the tumor on Mr. Stephens' spine, it could have been much more advanced before its destructive presence was discovered.
During the 12 chemotherapy treatments Mr. Stephens had at Providence Medical Center in December, Mr. and Mrs. Stephens stayed with their daughter, Multnomah registrar Amy Stephens.
"That Christmas we were driving him in every day for his radiation," Ms. Stephens said. "It doesn't really sink in [that he might die]. You just keep thinking, 'It's going to be OK.'"
The chemotherapy successfully dissolved the tumor, but the myeloma still needed to be dealt with.
Doctors presented a stem cell transplant as the best treatment for Mr. Stephens, and in August of 2002 he went in to have the cells harvested.
"It took three days of about five hours each on the machine to get the necessary amount of cells," Mr. Stephens said.
While the healthy stem cells from Mr. Stephens' blood were frozen in the lab for reinsertion into his blood stream, he underwent multiple treatments of high-dose chemotherapy.
These treatments kill not only the cancerous plasma cells, but also the blood-producing cells in the bone marrow, which is why he needed the stem cell transplant.
He spent three weeks in the hospital during the high-dose chemotherapy and recovery from the transplant.
"Mom would take him Tillamook peppermint ice cream milkshakes at first." Ms. Stephens said. "They were a special treat. She read to him, too."
The infusion of the healthy blood cells was done much like a blood transfusion and took about four hours. The infused cells traveled through Mr. Stephens' blood stream, settling in his bone marrow where they produced new white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.
"The hope was that we do this process and be good for five to seven years," Ms. Stephens said, "but that didn't materialize." A year after the transplant, blood tests revealed elevated levels of Monoclonal protein, the type of protein myeloma produces.
"They started me on a treatment which was experimental when I was first diagnosed two years ago," Mr. Stephens said, "but is now a normal first line of treatment."
Thalidomide, the treatment Mr. Stephens referred to, is an oral drug that inhibits the growth and survival of myeloma cells.
The drug was developed in the 1950s as a treatment for insomnia and morning sicknes but has been more successful in fighting myeloma.
The Thalidomide helped, and Mr. Stephens now takes just a steroid to slow the spread of the cancer.
When Mr. Stephens underwent his original stem cell transplant, technicians saved enough stem cells for another infusion, but because recovery takes almost a year, he probably won't have a second transplant.
Although the cancer is back, Mr. Stephens is still active in his church and family life.
In October, Ms. Stephens, her parents, and the same friend Mr. Stephens did the work with in December of 2001 re-sided part of Ms. Stephens' house.
The tumor damage to Mr. Stephens' back and the weakening effects of the cancer made working on the scaffolding difficult.
"But he was back a couple days after we were done," Ms. Stephens said, "touching things up."
Last summer, the Stephens' 13-year-old and 15-year-old grandaughters flew from Colorado to spend the week with them.
"They went to the beach every day," Ms. Stephens said. "He went right into the waves with the girls. He's living with the reality that he may not have much time, and that makes every day precious."
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