By Jessica Williams / Times-News

Shawna Hamlett will be born again June 8.

The 40-year-old Alamance native and single mother was diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis 13 years ago, and has dealt with episodes of numbness, sudden blindness, deafness, difficulty walking, pain and extreme fatigue.

But May 1, Hamlett will travel to Chicagos Northwestern Hospital to undergo a month-and-a-half-long experimental procedure called hematopoietic stemcell transplant, which uses stemcells from the patients own bone marrow, along with chemotherapy, essentially toreset the immune system.

By the time she receives the stemcell transplant June 8, she will have lost her hair and nearly all of the antibodies built up from vaccines that shes received since birth, but will no longer have multiple sclerosis.

This is mind-boggling to me, Hamlett said. My body wont remember that I had MS at all because my stemcells are going to be frozen [for] two weeks, and when they give them back, they dont know they had MS ever. The chemo completely reboots your immune system so much so that the vaccines you got when you were an infant your body no longer has.

She applied for the procedure in November and was, to her surprise, approved for it in late January. It couldnt come a moment too soon, Hamlett said, as the neurologist in Chicago told her during a consultation that shes one legion away from a catastrophic event maybe even paralysis, an even greater concern considering that she has two sons, 13 and 17.

I just wish I had done this years ago, when the doctor first started doing it, because I could have had their whole childhood without having it, and Ive had to struggle at ballgames. Ive been on the sidelines at soccer games with an IV in my hand because Ive had an IV at home and Im not going to miss their games, Hamlett said. But theyre going to grow up, and theyre going to get married and have kids, and I dont want to be not able to be around.

AS WITH ANY MEDICAL procedure, a heavy cost is involved. Along with spending the better part of nearly two months away from her kids, the longest shes ever been away from them, Hamlett will have to pay $25,000to $35,000 after insurance.

Shes enlisted help from community businesses, friends and family to help cover that expense, and has plans for seven fundraisers.

Hamlett says community support is essential for people with MS, and she would advise anyone just diagnosed to seek out others.

Talk to people who are in the same boat as you, she said. Theres a huge community of people on both Instagram and Facebook that suddenly become your family because nobody, we always say, nobody gets it until they get it. People who understand exactly what youre going through are out there, so youre not ever alone.

REGARDLESS OF HOW much money is raised, Hamletts life is about to change for the better. Shes nervous, but eager, and says its going to be a huge relief when shes fully-recovered.

The thing about MS is you never know from day to day how its going to be the next day, which is good and bad because, if its bad, then tomorrow could be a good day, but if its good, then tomorrow could be a bad day, she said. Id like to be on an even keel and just know that after the procedure there wont be any more unknowns.

Hamlet has set up a donation page through HelpHOPELive for donors to contribute to the cost of the procedure and hotel expenses for her time in Chicago. Visit https://helphopelive.org/campaign/12529 or search Shawna Hamlett HelpHopeLive to find out more.

All donations are tax-deductible, held by HelpHOPELive in the South Atlantic Stem Cell Transplant Fund, and administered by HelpHOPELive for transplant-related expenses only.

Reporter Jessica Williams can be reached at jessica.williams@thetimesnews.com or at 336-506-3046. Follow her on Twitter at @jessicawtn.

The rest is here:
'Reset' for the immune system - Burlington Times News

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