Marrow Masters

• Thriving to find the best version of you after transplant • Find ways to reconnect with the world around you • It is not easy: it can be a slow process, your personal earthquake • Increased tolerance for the unknown • Exhaustion • Losses along the way • Patience is important: a marathon not a sprint • Look for ways to be even just a little bit stronger each day • Energy issues • Chemotherapy • Y...

• Diagnosed when 20 years old, Sharde has had many issues with cGVHD • Sharde shares her coping mechanisms, tips and challenges • Fatigue and pacing yourself • How Sharde is living life to the fullest even with cGVHD. • Importance of seeing a specialized doctor when you are not sure if it is cGVHD. • Sharde’s incredible mom, caregiver/support system • Remembering how far she has come and living li...

• Viki’s presentation will cover the following organ systems re: cGVHD. Skin, Fingernails: • If you do not feel greasy from the lotions you apply, you are not using enough! • Fun facts about the sun—we all need some! • You did not go through a transplant to sit at home in the house—just do not burn. A sunburn is your enemy. • Fingernail care: keep them filed and avoid gels nail polishes • Steroids...

• I’m Home: What do I do now regarding seeing a doctor. • Be your own advocate • Notice the little things, over report symptoms to your center • Forever fatigue covered: (Learn more about Light Therapy by visiting • Your New Normal: Check out the LINK's award winning DVD. • Finding your way: new crossroads • Embrace living • The painfulness of cGVHD discussed • Photopheresis, ECP: Click here for m...

• Medications/options and steroids • First treatment: steroids and its side effects- muscle weakness, diabetes, etc. • What is on the horizon: treatment options explained • Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP), a cutting-edge, nonsurgical procedure to treat graft-versus-host disease explained. Click here for more on ECP (Photophersis) • Various drugs discussed and their relationship to steroid use •...

• Definition of acute and chronic Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD) • Examples of organs affected by both acute and chronic GVHD • Organs covered from head to toe • Fatigue • Your risk of getting cGVHD • Importance of staying in touch with your transplant center Click here to visit the Karmanos Cancer Center • Resources available through the nbmtLINK National Bone Marrow Transplant Link - (800) LIN...

The National Bone Marrow Transplant Link, established in 1992, strives to help patients, caregivers and families cope with the psychosocial challenges of bone marrow/stem cell transplant from diagnosis through survivorship. We provide vital information through valuable resource books, distributed nationally through our partnering cancer (transplant) centers. Many of our resources are also availabl...