Gerry Pinder was diagnosed with
chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in 2002
I was diagnosed with leukemia in September of 2002 and I was 50 years old at the
time. I had a very active, full life with my wife and two teenage boys. My initial
feeling was that the life we all enjoyed and had become accustomed to was
about to end. The truth of the matter was that we all feared the worst. The
hardest thing was worrying what my wife and children would have to go
through should I not survive. I made up my mind that I could beat this
disease with positive thinking and complete trust in my transplant team.
My family would not be without me.
Upon meeting with the specialists and social workers, we soon realized
that we would be given all the support and medical treatment that we
needed to get through this challenge. We also realized that all of our
family and close friends were there for us in any way that we needed.
This gave all of us a huge amount of determination. We decided, as a
family, that we could remain positive through it all and look back on this
experience one day as just an obstacle we had to face...
