Jeff Cline's Story
Jeff Cline went through a second round of Acute Myelocytic Leukemia, which spread to the head and spinal cord. During one of the 220 treatments Jeff suffered nerve damage to the left foot. The treatment he was receiving was a Intrathecial Chemo therapy, which is a Chemo Therapy Port. This treatment is either inserted into the cranium or spinal cord, in Jeff’s case it was inserted into the cranium for the most effective results. To insert this treatment a needle is placed into the port and it injects the chemo. This is what is used to fight the cancer that spread. The doctor made a mistake thinking that the treatment was being placed into the port, while it was feed into the area between the skull and skin where the nerves are located. This foreign substance aggravated the nerves and damaged them which caused paralysis to Jeff. This error was fixed the very next day and replaced with a new port which proved success. Although Jeff went through what he said was,”An unbearable pain that could hardly be tolerated and screamed all night.” This aggravation of nerves lasted until the port was taken out. The correction of the Chemo Therapy Port was made but Jeff’s paralysis spread and started to take over the whole body. The doctors waited to see if the paralysis would get any better, and over time Jeff did start to regain feeling or sensation throughout the body except in the left foot. Jeff’s left foot was permanently damaged. Neuropatay is the name of damage that Jeff received to his left foot, this makes it hard to constantly stand because the foot/leg gets tired and needs to rest. Jeff learned to walk, but will never be able to run. He shared that you learn to walk by lifting your hip because there is no live nerve present for the brain to send the massage to lift his left foot (called "foot drop" it causes the foot to just drag). Even though Jeff did not receive full function in his left foot the replacement port was successful in helping to control the activity of the cancer and has left Jeff cancer free since the October of 2006 (7 years).
Another treatment used was the Blood Stem Cell Transplant, which helped Jeff during his battle to get a hold of his cancer. The treatment is a 3 hour process, they used his own blood, harvested it, and put it through a apheresis machine. An apheresis machine is where the blood goes through this machine where it separats the blood out by weight to determine the healthy cells from the contaminated cells. (This was a continuous process throughout his treatment.) This type of treatment also required a blood transfusion which Jeff received. All of which was received before the Intrathecial Chemo Therapy.
Another treatment used was the Blood Stem Cell Transplant, which helped Jeff during his battle to get a hold of his cancer. The treatment is a 3 hour process, they used his own blood, harvested it, and put it through a apheresis machine. An apheresis machine is where the blood goes through this machine where it separats the blood out by weight to determine the healthy cells from the contaminated cells. (This was a continuous process throughout his treatment.) This type of treatment also required a blood transfusion which Jeff received. All of which was received before the Intrathecial Chemo Therapy.