Jehovah's Witnesses John and Leina Lapez turn to their faith when life gets tough. "It was frightening. I thought I was gonna die." John has multiple myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells. He needed blood transfusions and a stem cell transplant to survive. The problem -- it goes against his religious beliefs. "We don't take blood in any way, shape or form." "I've had a lot of pressure the past year with, what is the big deal? It's his life."
The couple turned to Doctor Michael Lill, a self-described atheist who helped develop the bloodless transplant. "It's also made it probably somewhat easier by being an atheist and not having strongly held religious beliefs."
Before the transplant the patient takes hormones to stimulate red blood cell growth. The goal -- get the red cell count high enough so blood isn't needed during the transplant. Doctor Lill promises not to give the patients blood, even in an emergency. it worked for 25 people. One patient died during treatment. "I very much respect adult individual's rights to make choices for themselves even if it is not in what I perceive to be their own best interest."
Doctor Lill hopes the procedure prompts doctors to find new ways to conserve blood for all patients. "I think it's probably beneficial for people to lose as little blood as possible during their hospital stay." John is weak but so far he's one of the successes. "It makes me feel better knowing that he respects us all the way to the very end." The Lapez's say taking the risk was better than their only other option -- doing nothing at all..
The biggest risk for the bloodless transplant is bleeding in the brain. Doctor Lill and his team make other adjustments. They draw less blood by using pediatric tubes instead of adult tubes. They also draw blood from a patient's arm instead of a central line. That conserves a tablespoon of blood every time.
