BREAKING NEW GROUND.
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Hospital is expanding.
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M E T H O D I S T H E A L T H C A R E — S A N A N T O N I O
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S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
I n
SIDE
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TRY A CLASS FOR BETTER HEALTH
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BLAZING THE TRAIL
CATTLE BARON’S FOR A CANCER CURE
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GREAT SAVE
MOM HAD A CLOSE CARDIAC CALL
7
HEALTHCARE EQUALITY
METROPOLITAN IS A LEADER
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
FAMILY
R
ex Anders, 46, celebrated Father’s Day
this year by welcoming a new daughter
into his life: a young lady from
Alabama who saved his life by donat-
ing her bone marrow. Anders, from
Thorndale, Texas, could not have lived without
the transplant, and on June 17, 2016, he; his wife,
Jeni; and their three daughters welcomed donor
Stefanie Carter Hightower,
27
, as a new and very
important member of their family.
They al l met in person for
the first time at the Methodist
Hospital Adult Blood and Marrow
Stem Cell Transplant Clinic in San
Antonio, just two days before Father’s
Day. Anders wanted her to meet the
transplant team at Methodist Hospital
and at the hospital’s Blood Cancer and
Stem Cell Transplant Adult Clinic that
used her bone marrow to save him.
In
2006
Anders was diagnosed with
chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
He had been in
remission several
times, and each
time the cancer
came back. In
January
2014
,
Paul Shaughnessy,
MD,
medical director of the Adult
and Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant
Program at the Texas Transplant
Institute, a department of Methodist
Hospital, told Anders that a bone
marrow donor would be needed.
Transplant is the only curative option
for CLL.
Four potential donors were iden-
tified and tested, but each was un-
able to donate. In October
2014
,
Hightower, living in Anniston,
Alabama, was identified as a
9
out of
10
match. She traveled to Memphis
to have her marrow harvested. On
Nov.
5
,
2014
, Anders had his transplant.
One hundred days later, tests showed
he was 100 percent cancer free and
remains so today.
Anders reached out to Hightower in
January
2016
, offering to pay for her to
come to San Antonio to meet his family
and transplant team. Hightower was
married in October
2015
, and her hus-
band had never been to San Antonio. “I
decided to make this very special oc-
casion a honeymoon as well,” she says.
She had been on the National Marrow
Donor Program Registry for two years
and also is a registered organ donor.
Learn more about our world-class
bone marrow transplant program at
www.MethodistBMT.com.
A LIFE-SAVING DONOR
BECOMES
Above:
Rex Anders meets bone
marrow donor, Stefanie Hightower, for
the first time, and they exchange a
heart-warming, tearful embrace.
Left:
Stefanie and Rex