Wendy Zins

Just a few days after her high school graduation, 18-year old Wendy Zins felt exhausted and tired. She thought she was just run-down from all her senior year activities. "I had been to the doctor in December with a cold and cough I just couldn't seem to get rid of," says Wendy.

More Than Just a Cold

In May 1984, Wendy decided to go back to her family physician in New Ulm, Minn. She was looking forward to starting college in the fall and wanted to make sure she was feeling well. This time they tested her blood. The test showed her total white blood cell count was forty times the normal reading. Her local physician immediately sent her to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester where she was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (also called acute nonlymphocydic leukemia) — a fast growing cancer originating in the white blood cells produced by the bone marrow. That evening she had her first treatment.

"Wendy had to undergo emergency cleansing of the blood to lower the white blood cell count to avoid life-threatening bleeding," says Morie Gertz, M.D., a hematologist and now division chair of Hematology for Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

"During the next two years I spent a total of about six months at Mayo in Methodist hospital," said Wendy. "At that time they kept you in the hospital until your white blood cell count was back to normal. Because I received all my treatment in Rochester I spent a lot of time with my doctors and nurses. Dr. Gertz even played a few hands of Trivial Pursuit with me as he made his rounds."

While she was in the hospital, her mom, Donna Zins stayed with her during the day and her father, Paul, drove four-hours round trip to and from Rochester to entertain them in the evenings. "If not for their love and support I couldn't have made it," says Wendy.

By fall, Wendy was well enough to start cosmetology school in St. Paul — considering what she had been through she thought it would be less scary than jumping right into college. But by spring, the cancer was back.

Transplant Becomes the Best Option

When Wendy was first admitted to the hospital, her two brothers and two sisters were tested to see if any of them were possible matches for a bone marrow transplant. One brother and one sister were half-matches.

"One thing I found comforting about being at Mayo Clinic was that it wasn't one doctor making all the final decisions. Every morning my providers met as a team. Interns, residents, and doctors were all familiar with my case and had discussed it at length," says Wendy.

"It was well recognized that once leukemia relapses after chemotherapy it is incurable short of bone marrow transplantation," says Dr. Gertz. "At that time there were no volunteer banks to go to for a transplant. It was a higher-risk procedure but we felt that her disease would definitely come back without the transplant." So after consultation with all her healthcare providers, Wendy underwent the first half-match bone marrow transplant at Mayo Clinic.

Following her transplant, Wendy lived in an apartment in Rochester because her blood was tested so frequently. "Two months after her transplant, she developed graft vs. host disease, which led to the development of viral pneumonia, but also ultimately cured her leukemia, presumably because the healthy immune system of her brother destroyed the foreign leukemia cells," says Dr. Gertz.

Sharing Her Experience and Helping Others

Wendy was married five years ago and three years ago started her own commercial photography business in Minneapolis. Recently she started participating as a "Patient Partner" — a program of the American Cancer Society that connects recently diagnosed patients with a cancer survivor. "I think it is helpful to meet someone who has survived this many years," says Wendy. "This is maybe why I survived, to give people hope."

Each spring, on the anniversary of her treatment at Mayo Clinic, Wendy sends a letter to all of the providers she came to know as friends. "I write to remind those doctors and nurses that what they do has purpose and meaning," says Wendy. "They are a major part of why I'm still here."