Information Specialist, Nurse and CML Survivor Becky Dame

Marrow Masters

English - December 14, 2022 23:54 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MB - ★★★★★ - 7 ratings
Medicine Health & Fitness Education bone marrow transplant stem cell transplant graft versus host disease caregivers cancer survivor patient cgvhd acute gvhd immune system Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Previous Episode: Season 9 Trailer: What I Wish I Knew Before Transplant

Next Episode: Jermaine Reid's Spirituality Through AML

Today we are joined by Becky Dame, currently an Information Specialist at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, RN and Survivor. As Peggy says in the podcast, callers who end up talking to Becky must feel like they've hit the information jackpot. Becky is a chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) survivor who went on to become a cancer care nurse, before she transitioned to her current role. Today, we tap into her wealth of personal and professional experience.

Becky was diagnosed as a college student in 1991, and received her first bone marrow transplant in 1992. At this time, she felt called to be a nurse and changed from a music major to nursing school, marrying her husband on the day she graduated. For 18 years, she went through cycles of relapse, always on the lookout for the newest treatments for her disease. Then, in 2010, she received a matched unrelated donor (MUD) transplant, and was able to break that cycle. Today, however, Becky battles Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD).

In 2017, she joined The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, where she says it's her goal to share her "pearls" of wisdom with patients, caregivers, and anyone else that she can find commonalities with.

Becky speaks to the importance of finding a primary caregiver --transplant is not a journey you can go at alone. Also, plan to be out of work for at least a year - and we cover some resources available to patients.

There are also practical tips in today's podcast, such as why wearing a button-up shirt to the hospital can be a clutch move.

Finally, Becky reflects on her journey, saying there's nothing she would change, feeling like everything happens for a reason, and now she's here to help others.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for One-on-One Support

https://www.lls.org/patient-support, 1-800-955-4572

Other Resources

National Bone Marrow Transplant Link - (800) LINK-BMT, or (800) 546-5268.

nbmtLINK Website: https://www.nbmtlink.org/

nbmtLINK Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/nbmtLINK

nbmtLINK YouTube Page can be found by clicking here.

Thank you to this season's sponsors:

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, www.lls.org

Sanofi: https://www.sanofi.com/

Follow the nbmtLINK on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/nbmtlink/