Celebrating Survivorship: Jennifer Dorkin

In May of 2013 I had just returned to work as a special education teacher after recovering from the lingering effects of a coma caused by quadruple pneumonia, septic shock, and a pulmonary embolism.

No stranger to the work of survival and recovery, as I had been through many previous surgeries, I was in a wheelchair with paralysis and re-learning to walk. Within a month of my return to work, I came down with what was initially presumed to be tonsillitis, the symptoms of which worsened until I was almost unable to breathe and was hospitalized. In the hospital tests were run, minor procedures were completed, and I was released. Upon reviewing the results of my two blood draws, my doctor called with the news that they found what appeared to be blood cancer and not just an infection.

Because of the aggressively increasing blast cells, my doctor scheduled an oncology appointment for the next morning and I was admitted to the hospital with only an hour to break the news to my children. A bone marrow biopsy confirmed aggressive AML and we started inpatient induction chemotherapy.

After a month in the hospital and a successful first round, I was sent to LA for a consultation to consider a possible autologous bone marrow transplant. I chose instead to complete another induction round and 4 rounds of inpatient consolidation chemotherapy instead of the bone marrow transplant which offered no greater outcomes in my case.

I was declared to be officially in remission on July 3, 2013 but due to my significant recent medical history and response to the chemo, I was kept in the hospital for consolidation chemotherapy for the next seven months.

My previous struggles, my faith in God, and the support of my friends and family gave me the strength I needed to fight this battle. The work of my amazing medical teams at Hoag and Cedars Sinai as well as many generous donations of specially matched platelets along the way helped me kiss blood cancer good-bye!