JEFFERSONVILLE When Phil Meeks went to the doctor for shortness of breath and a burning in his legs, he expected nothing more than a routine diagnosis.

I was a smoker, so I thought, its probably my smoking, said Meeks, a 47-year-old Jeffersonville resident.

So it was quite a shock when his doctor came back with alarming blood test results and a prognosis that he would be dead in 30 days if he didnt start chemotherapy treatments immediately.

I was blown away, said Meeks, whose doctor also delivered a diagnosis of acute myloid leukemia in August 2012.

Because his form of cancer was so aggressive, Meeks needed a bone marrow transplant to have a chance of long-term survival. However, his chance of finding a match was only 20 percent because he is African-American with multiracial genes minorities have a harder time finding matches due to the lower number of people on the bone marrow registry.

I figured my days were over, he said.

Meeks was met with another shock about three months later. Doctors had found not one, but three bone marrow matches.

[The nurse] said, Thats just unheard of, Meeks said. I was blessed immensely.

But not everyone is so fortunate, he said.

Thats why Meeks now cancer-free volunteers for Be The Match, a nonprofit organization that works to boost bone marrow registry numbers for those suffering from blood cancers.

Read more:
PAYING IT FORWARD: Jeffersonville cancer survivor advocates for bone marrow donations

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