J. Ochs

I’m a wheelchair user and have been for the last 10 years. I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2010, my doctor identified me as having the flit 3 gene which makes leukemia tough to beat without a bone marrow transplant. In the beginning of 2012 I had my first bone marrow transplant at the Duke University hospital in NC. In the summer of 2013, I relapsed while visiting Buffalo, New York. My relapse presented as total organ failure. The doctors said that I was too sick to move to my home in SC. I stayed at Roswell Park Hospital for 9 months. High doses of chemotherapy was administered to keep the leukemia at bay and to prepare me for a second bone marrow transplant. The high dosage of chemotherapy poisoned my brain giving me Cerebeller Ataxia which destroyed my motor skills and balance. I was put in a medically induced coma for a month while doctors worked on a lung infection that I had developed. A tracheotomy was preformed and the scar tissue from the track caused my esophagus to close and now I’m unable to swallow. I’m now in remission but remain unable to swallow, rely on a feeding tube and am a wheelchair user. Doctors refer to me as a medical mystery and there is no known cure or treatment.