Good News from Our Friend, TOM MULLICA!

Friends/Family...

 

I've been told that the sun will come out tomorrow...well, today it came out.  After 2 rounds of chemo and my 4th bone marrow biopsy two days ago, my doctor told me today that my bone marrow is CLEAN.  I'm in remission.  They want me to stay in the hospital for another 2 weeks to monitor my white blood cell count, then I can go home.  I'll be home for about 2 weeks (after almost 2 months here) then come back to the hospital for a 5-day chemo treatment.  I'll go home for 3 weeks then return for another 5 days of chemo.  I'll do this 4 times, ending in sometime in August.

 

Then Stephen and I will drive to St. Louis to check into Barnes Hospital where they have one of the best leukemia wards in the country.  I will go through a stem-cell-transplant which is the only CURE for leukemia.  The hospital will find a stem-cell/bone marrow donar through a nationwide network.  This person will have blood drawn which will go through a process of seperating the stem-cells.  Years ago it was a painful process of digging-out bone marrow...now they just draw blood and pull the stem-cells from the blood.  After the stem-cells are taken from the donar's blood, they are injected into my body.  This only takes about an hour or so.  Then I go through a 3-4 month process of medications to help me go through the transplant.  Like most transplants, my body will try to reject the new cells so they monitor you very closely.  There are many possible altercations including liver damage but this is the only cure or leukemia.  I got to do what I got to do!!!

 

So, to make a long story short, I'll be out of work and healing until the end of the year.  If I'm lucky, I'll return to the show next March/April.  I've applied for social security disability to help us with our bills...we'll come close to losing our house but hopefully we'll make it with the help of our entertainer friends in Branson.  They are planning a benefit show for Stephen and me on May 17th at 7pm at The Mansion Theatre...we don't know what we'd do without this act of kindness/concern.  We're so lucky.

 

Got to go, just wanted you to hear the good news.

 

Love from us both,

 

Tom & Stephen