Transplant pioneer

As Kent Klingman turned 34, his life was blossoming in ways every young family man dreams of. His two happy, healthy daughters were just reaching school age. He and his wife were buying their first house. His career was taking off. Then, in one stunning moment, everything was flipped upside down. His doctor told him he had acute myelogenous leukemia and that he might have just one month to live.

Kent had been experiencing a sore throat, which he chalked up to nothing more than a cold. But after a few unsuccessful attempts to beat it with antibiotics, he asked for a blood test. "It revealed I had leukemia and it was already entering an advanced stage," he recalled.

Treatment began almost immediately, but early rounds of chemotherapy didn't keep the disease in remission. Searches for a bone-marrow-transplant donor failed not only in his family, but also throughout North America.

With conventional treatment options dwindling, Kent decided to participate in a clinical trial at Fred Hutchinson, where a new treatment was being tested. Instead of bone marrow, Kent would be transplanted with blood stem cells — if a matching donor could be found.

Finally, halfway across the world in Germany, a suitable donor emerged. Since the disease was not in remission, Kent was given only a 20 percent chance to survive 100 days.

But Kent began to beat the odds. And his daughters, Jaquelin and Samantha, kept him going. "They read bedtime stories to me every night over the phone. When we finally would say goodnight to each other and hang up, I knew that I had the courage to live another day," said Kent, now 44. "They were the lights that guided me through."

Today, the Kent, Wash., resident is completely healthy and proudly raising his daughters, now 15 and 17. He stays busy helping the kids with homework and school activities. And Kent has gone back to school and just earned a second degree in construction management.

Despite the packed family schedule, Kent has found time to organize an annual fund-raising golf tournament for Fred Hutchinson. The tenth annual Klingman Open on Aug. 4, 2006 at the Trilogy Golf Club raised over $35,000 for the center's Family Assistance Fund. The tournament, dinner and auction has raised more than $175,000 since it began in 1997.

"I often think how the word 'appreciation' isn't mentioned enough, or it simply is just taken for granted," he said. "The care and support I received at Fred Hutchinson — as well as from friends and family — will always be appreciated."

Stem-cell transplants are more common today and dramatically more successful than they were seven years ago, thanks in large part to the early participation of patients like Kent. Yet he downplays his contribution. Instead, he gives credit to the staff at Fred Hutchinson and to all of those people who financially support the center.

"Without that support, the brilliant research and medical staff would be limited, the courage and hope of the patients along with their families would be diminished, and I would not be here today."

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