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Cancer Survivors 928 Part 1

By Laurel Morales

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/knau/local-knau-598369.mp3

Flagstaff, AZ – About four years ago Jason Kurtz was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkins Lymphoma. He's tried chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant using his own stem cells, and a combination of radiation and chemotherapy.

KURTZ: I'd work all week. Friday I'd try to cut out early, just get totally nuked and fried with chemo, spend the weekend on the couch, feel horrible. Hopefully Monday feel good, back up, go to work, do it again the next week.

Finally he agreed to a second bone marrow transplant -- this time with a donor.

KURTZ: All I told the doctors was, hey if I get an extra year out of it it's worth it.'

June is National Cancer Survivors Month. If caught early enough many people can survive a cancer diagnosis. But how does it change your life? What is it like living with the disease?

On the June 2007 9-2-8 we address these questions with Jason Kurtz, his bone marrow donor Daria Gaschler, social worker Donna Clark and Jason's wife Dawn Kurtz. This is the first half of the program.