Topeka woman uses own stem cells to fight cancer
9:06 p.m. Sunday, November 26, 2006
Topeka — Ann Hodges’ fight for her life has also forced her to fight with her insurance company.
"They found out I had it in my liver, my spine, my breast, pelvic and bone marrow. It was everywhere," says Hodges.
Hodges learned she had cancer four years ago.
"It was surreal; it was kind of like you're in complete shock. You don't even know what to think," says Hodges.
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49 News Anchor Jana Corrie followed up with Ann Hodges as she goes through her stem cell transplant. See story.
Six rounds of chemo-therapy later, Ann was cancer free. But doctors warned she had a 50 percent chance of the cancer coming back within 5 years. 4 years passed and Ann began having terrible headaches. In August, one hit so hard she called her daughter for help.
"She's a nursing student and she took one look at me and said we're going to the hospital. My whole left side was numb, kind-of like a stroke, but it was trembling. Everything in my left side was gone," says Hodges.
Doctors told Ann she had 2 brain tumors. Ann felt lucky to be alive.
"She saved my life. If she hadn't come over when she did, I'm not sure where I'd be. I'm not sure I'd be here today," says Hodges.
Her cancer is Stage 4, the most serious kind; there is no Stage 5.
"Because I had stage 4 and had such a good chance of it coming back, they wanted to have something like an insurance program for me if it did come back," says Hodges.
That insurance program meant a stem cell transplant, something Ann knew little about. She researched and learned it was different than the transplants she'd heard about.
"People are upset about the embryonic stem cells and I can understand that. I know there is a lot of controversy, but when it comes to taking your own, there shouldn't be any controversy when you can save yourself," says Hodges.
The transplant starts with a harvest of the patient’s own stem cells when they're healthy. The healthy cells are taken from the patient’s body and stored to be used later. So if Ann's cancer came back, chemo could put it into remission and the transplant would then produce healthy blood cells, hopefully curing her. But after Ann understood and decided to go through with it, she learned that her insurance company would not cover the cost.
"I am just persistent enough to know that my life is on the line and I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure it gets taken care of," says Hodges.
Ann and her husband were prepared to use their savings to pay for the $15,000 procedure because they were unwilling to take a chance with Ann's life. But after going through the grueling procedure to harvest her cells, she learned that her insurance gave in. Now she's waiting for her tumors to shrink enough to use the stem cells. To transplant the cells back into her body costs between $100,000 and $250,000, which will be covered by insurance. Now it's just waiting and staying positive...
"We're all optimistic. I've asked for 40 more years. That's all I ask for from the doctors is 40 years. I'm going to be fine,” says Hodges.
Ann heads back to the doctor later this week to learn if her tumors have shrunk enough to have the stem cell transplant.
For more information on Hodges' cancer (Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma) and available treatments visit www.marrow.org.
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Nov. 26, 2006 at 10:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)maclup (anonymous)
Hi. I just finished chemo for lymphoma, large B cell type. I was told that the most likely place for it to go, should it recur, is the brain. Sounds like that's what happened to Ann. Would you please give her my e-mail address and ask her to write me? Thanks - Margaret C. Luplow
macluplow@kans.com
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