My boyfriend of six years has been diagnosed
with having Severe Aplastic Anemia on 8/12/98. We suspect it was caused
by exposure to Acephate, a highly toxic insecticide (the doctors however
will not confirm this). He is at the City of Hope in Duarte, California.
Please if you know someone who has this deadly disease contact me by writing
me at TerryTingy@hotmail.com
maybe we can share some useful information about this deadly illness
and maybe prevent other people who might unknowingly be exposing themselves
to a highly carcinogenic agent.
We never thought
something like this would ever happen to him he was always healthy,
exercised watched what he ate stayed away from foods high in saturated
fat, had a satisfying career as a Unix programmer and could
always make me laugh in the worst and the best of times. As a friend he
was always there for me when I needed him.
About a month ago I started
to notice red spots all over his body. He chronically complained about
having headaches being tired and having no energy, other than that you
would never guess he was ill (Finally he decided reluctantly, to go to
see a doctor) after I told him to either go to a doctor or shut up. I later
regretted having said that. I always thought he was kind of hypochondriac.
It was the strangest thing he also complained of hemorrhoids (for the first
time in his life). We went to the
E.R. at Saddleback Memorial Hospital. He was
told he would have to stay over night for some tests to be done and for
some unknown reason his bone marrow had stopped producing any type of cells.
That evening I went home scouring the internet using search engines looking
for answers no one seems to know. Doctors are currently searching for a
possible Bone Marrow Transplant, although no matches have been found for
his HLA, (Human Leukocyte Antigen). His HLA
requirements are A23, A32, B14, B18 and DR1, DR13. If
your would like some more information on how you can register to become
a donor you can contact the City of Hope (626)359-8111.